Drowning at Lake Rawlings

[james croft]

I just learned of a drowning at Lake Rawlings today in Virginia. This is a popular dive quarry that is also used by swimmers. Most folks using it are divers, though. Does anyone have any other info on this incident?

Possible drowning in Brunswick County - News - inRich.com

 

[portraw]

Yes,


A drowning did occur at Lake Rawlings. Me and my dive buddy had just arrived at the park and was informed that the park was closed due to an incident. The divers were novice divers. It appears to be an unfortunate accident. The investigation is ongoing

 

[ChainSaw0069]

Is there anymore info on what happened?

 

[james croft]

An instructor at my LDS just advised me that two divers from Maryland were involved in the incident. It was a man and woman who had just gotten certified and went to Rawlings to practice skills. According to my source, the woman and man were practicing ascents and descents. Supposedly the woman had difficulty ascending and panicked. The male buddy got his mask flooded during this and power inflated to the surface where he began yelling for help. A rescue team happened to be there and assisted but the woman did not make it. I have to add the LDS instructor was not there but he got his info from a state police dive team supervisor who was involved in this incident. That is all the info I have but apparently witnesses stated the couple appeared to be novices and had some problems gearing up, etc.

Nothing in the local papers about it.

 

[james croft]

Here is a link:
NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA | Baltimore woman dies while scuba diving in local lake

 

[Bratface]

Very unfortunate. Lake Rawlings is a great place to practice scuba skills. Very sorry for the families.

 

[stairman]

Very sad.The news must have gotten the 20ft. of water part wrong.I freedive that deep.So many people get certified and arent ready to dive on their own right away.Condolences to her family.

 

[cmburch]

Condolences to family and friends.
Rest in Peace Sharon Holmes.

 

[ChainSaw0069]

Condolences to the family.

 

[TCSCUBA]

Stairman,
I agree 100%. Many divers right out of the gate are just not ready to hit the water running. Now this does have a lot to do with their instruction and instructor. I am a PADI, NAUI, SDI and TDI instructor. I have to say one thing I love about NAUI is that we have a rescue senerio build into the course which we do on dive #5. Just last weekend we (Tri-City SCUBA) were at Lake Rawlings teaching a NAUI class and this accident, while tragic, is a perfect example of what a little additional training can do for a person. Our shop, Tri-City SCUBA is the closest dive shop to Lake Rawlings (36.75 miles) so as you can imagine we use it quite a bit.
Our condolences to the friends and family for their loss.