Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[promocop]

onlyhalcyon...we await your report. Dive Safe.

[cappyjon431]

I usually hate to conjecture on these types of incidents, because of my sensitivity towards the victims' families. Sometimes it seems like pouring salt into an open wound.

On the other hand, this incident reminds me of an experience I had working on a liveaboard many years ago (mid 90s). We had a gentleman come out on the boat that we had to warn about diving deeper than 130' because other guests had reported him diving too deep. We approached him about it and he denied it. The guy also drank a whole lot (each night, after the diving day had concluded).

One evening the guy (very intoxicated) confessed to the captain that he had come out on the boat to commit suicide. His business had failed, his wife had left him, and he wanted to end it all doing what he loved most. The captain spoke with him at length and explained that he was done diving for the week. The captain had us confiscate his dive gear and made sure the night watch crew knew where he was at all times. The guy actually turned out to be pretty cool the rest of the week, and I know the captain had heard from him about a year after the cruise, so hopefully he got his life together.

Is it possible the victim was attempting suicide? It would explain fighting off the DM. It might also explain the media blackout (here in the resort area I live suicides are never reported, although they do occur). I absolutely hate to bring this up as a possibility, but since I had experienced this type of behavior first-hand, it is always in my thoughts.

[pilot fish]

cappyjon, I also had wondered about that but then thought, why would she do it in front of her husband?

[Cave Diver]

I usually hate to conjecture on these types of incidents, because of my sensitivity towards the victims' families. Sometimes it seems like pouring salt into an open wound.

On the other hand, this incident reminds me of an experience I had working on a liveaboard many years ago (mid 90s). We had a gentleman come out on the boat that we had to warn about diving deeper than 130' because other guests had reported him diving too deep. We approached him about it and he denied it. The guy also drank a whole lot (each night, after the diving day had concluded).

One evening the guy (very intoxicated) confessed to the captain that he had come out on the boat to commit suicide. His business had failed, his wife had left him, and he wanted to end it all doing what he loved most. The captain spoke with him at length and explained that he was done diving for the week. The captain had us confiscate his dive gear and made sure the night watch crew knew where he was at all times. The guy actually turned out to be pretty cool the rest of the week, and I know the captain had heard from him about a year after the cruise, so hopefully he got his life together.

Is it possible the victim was attempting suicide? It would explain fighting off the DM. It might also explain the media blackout (here in the resort area I live suicides are never reported, although they do occur). I absolutely hate to bring this up as a possibility, but since I had experienced this type of behavior first-hand, it is always in my thoughts.

The thought has crossed my mind, as well as the minds of few others I've communicated with as well.

We'll just have to wait and see if any new information comes out and if it sheds any light on the situation.

[Rhone Man]

Pretty speculative unless they find a note. But on the other hand, if you are going to do it, I suppose it is as good a way as any - just slowly lose consciouness at a certain depth.

In a way, I suppose that would be the "least sad" result. Every death is its own small tragedy, but it must be less tragic if the deceased wanted to die than if they didn't. I suspect that would be little consolation to the family.

[DandyDon]

I bet many of us thot about it Cappy, but that's a wild speculation even for a what-if discussion - with little possible take-away knowledge to be gained for any reader. Let's not discuss that one folks, OK?

Yes, it's common for dive tourist destinations to try to keep news of accidents from getting out. Glad we have some input from divers who were there. I'm packing for a dive practice weekend, looking forward to additional info from onlyhalcyon, and going to try to avoid fueling speculations here further.

ty

[ScubaSteve]

.....

Finally! You and I agree on something ! ..... Indeed.

We did discuss the possibility that suicide was an option but I unfortunately believe that the one person that could confirm that, has lost their life. I think suicide would fit in many ways for the limited amount we know, but I still believe that we will never know for sure.

[JonKranhouse]

No newspaper has run anything? I find it hard to believe that neither a Bahamian news source nor any local (to where the diver was from) news sources have run anything at all on this.

It's been alleged before here in Accidents and Incidents that some vacation areas may have a tendency to not want to publicize problems that may scare tourists.

Actually, this fatality -- and a second snorkeling fatality -- both occurred the same day, per a single brief story from a Taiwan paper / website that picks up international news-feeds from agencies (AP / UPI / Reuters, etc.)

Further searches have returned nothing (not to say nothing exists) so I have to come back to the fact that CDNN is not a trustworthy source.

Why has it become lore here on SB that CDNN is not trustworthy? Should they link back to their original source? (But typical news sites pull their stories after a few days / weeks.)

[cappyjon431]

cappyjon, I also had wondered about that but then thought, why would she do it in front of her husband?

Not to sound too calloused, but maybe she was pissed at him. It is all speculation at this point, no one really has any idea and I hate to add fuel to the fire. It is just a theory based on one of my own experiences.

I will say that what came out of this experience for me was that the company I worked for addressed how we (as employees) are to respond if we observe a diver descending past recreational dive limits (regardless of the reasons). They said that we were in no way supposed to dive deeper than 130' to retrieve/assist a diver due to liability issues. Of course as an employee I said "sure, no problem." As a human being (and a trained tech diver), I'm going to do whatever I can to help that diver ascend and not endanger myself or others.

[cappyjon431]

I bet many of us thot about it Cappy, but that's a wild speculation even for a what-if discussion - with little possible take-away knowledge to be gained for any reader. Let's not discuss that one folks, OK?

Yes, it's common for dive tourist destinations to try to keep news of accidents from getting out. Glad we have some input from divers who were there. I'm packing for a dive practice weekend, looking forward to additional info from onlyhalcyon, and going to try to avoid fueling speculations here further.

ty

Please don't take this the wrong way, and I mean no disrespect, but EVERYTHING to this point is speculation (or "wild speculation" as you called my post). We have absolutely no substantiation of any causes for this fatality.

I've seen on this thread that she was narced-speculation.
I've seen on this thread that she must have been a new diver-speculation
I've seen on this thread that maybe the DM was too petit to handle the diver-speculation
I've seen on this thread that maybe the DM was incompetent to properly assist-speculation

I simply brought this up as a possibility (while acknowledging in my first post this was speculation and that I hate to speculate) because I have lived through an experience which influenced how I view some dive fatalities. My experience was something that actually happened, and despite what you claim about this adding nothing to the discussion, this is something that divers and dive professionals should be prepared for. I know I am forever grateful to the captain who showed me how to handle this type of situation when and if it ever occurs. I learned a great deal that day.