Discover Scuba fatality - Queensland

[DandyDon]

British tourist drowned on Great Barrier Reef on her first scuba dive | Daily Mail Online

A British graduate died after becoming separated from her instructor and drowning on her first ever scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef.
Bethany Farrell, 23, from Colchester, Essex, has only been in Australia a week when she tragically drowned after becoming separated from her instructor on the dive.
Police and safety inspectors are still investigating her death on February 17 at Blue Harbour Bay, on the Whitsunday Islands in Australia.
Her parents Patrick and Caron Farrell say they are still trying to understand what happened.
Mr Farrell, 47, said: 'From what we can gather from different communications, Bethany had boarded a bus to get the boat at 1pm. She was dead by 5pm.
'We have photos of her looking like she was having fun.'
Ms Farrell had just graduated after studying English Literature and media at Southampton Solent University and was travelling with friends.
Ms Farrell, a competent swimmer, had signed up for an introductory diving experience after going snorkelling.
Her father said: 'The instructor had three students and one of them was Bethany.
'One of them decided she didn't want to dive, so she remained on the boat, which left the instructor, Bethany and one of her friends.
'At some point the diving instructor lost sight of Bethany and then realised he couldn't locate her.
'He returned the other student to the surface, sought help and went back down, presumably with other people to help and they found Bethany dead 11 metres down.
'They were meant to be diving in a depth of five metres.'

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[SeaCobra]

I feel it is extremely irresponsible and unprofessional to form an opinion of this incident with the information given. Let's get the facts out before we run around warning that the sky is falling.

 

[Diver0001]

Separation on a DSD should be literally impossible.

The standard is quite explicit: "position yourself so that you or a certified assistant can make immediate physical contact with, adjust buoyancy for, and render assistance to, participants."

As an instructor I interpret this to mean that NONE of the participants should be beyond arms reach of myself or my CA's at any point during the dive. Separation, therefore should be impossible.

R..

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Separation on a DSD should be literally impossible.

And yet it happens, so it IS possible.

The standard is quite explicit: "position yourself so that you or a certified assistant can make immediate physical contact with, adjust buoyancy for, and render assistance to, participants."

It's an impossible standard to meet. I have just finished testifying (defense) in a case a few weeks ago here in SoCal which also involved a DSD fatality and "immediate phyical contact" was one of the determining issues. (Jury ruled against defendants and a settlement was reached before they awarded damages.) You can act responsibly and still not meet the definition of "immediate" (which the dictionary says is "instantaneous"). I have suggested to both PADI & NAUI that the word "immediate" be changed to something like "quickly", or "rapidly", or even eliminated ("make physical contact") becasue, again, you could be acting reasonably and responsnbily but the word "immediate" legally paints you into a corner.

I also don't like the phrase period. It implies that if you can grab hold of someone, nothing bad can happen. That's BS. I had one occassion during an OW class where I was holding on to the student by the BC when she decideed to bolt and rapidly took both of us to the surface, with me holding on all the way trying to stop her. "Physical contact" does not mean "control" but grammatically it suggests that it does.

Also, I'd hate to be the defense expert testifying as to why an instructor holding on to a diver who's trying to bolt or panic and then that person drowns is what the standards require. Rhetorcially, the words put us in a difficult position.

As an instructor I interpret this to mean that NONE of the participants should be beyond arms reach of myself or my CA's at any point during the dive. Separation, therefore should be impossible.

I assume, then, that you have four arms. PADI standards (specifically) allow you take as many as FOUR perople on a DSD by yourself with no assistant. There's no way for you to be in "immediate phyical contact" with four people at once which goes back to why it's an impossible standard to meet, as well as contradicts the assumption of separation being an impossibility.

- Ken

 

[cnherrick]

British Graduate Drowns While Scuba-Diving in Australia

"At some point, the diving instructor lost sight of Bethany, then realised he could not locate her..."

 

[gopbroek]

I believe there is already an open thread on this tragic event: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...03520-discover-scuba-fatality-queensland.html

 

[MMM]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

i have just moved most of the posts in this threas to the New Divers forum. A reminder: the purpose of this forum is to discuss details SPECIFIC to this accident to prevent recurrences and not generalities. Please familiarize yourself with the forum rules before posting here. Marg, SB senior Moderator

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