Diver dead after accident in Lake Ontario near Oakville

[DandyDon]

TheSpec - Diver dead after accident in Lake Ontario near...

OAKVILLE — An autopsy will be held today on the body of a man who died as a result of a diving accident in Lake Ontario.

The man – whose name has not been released – died of his injuries at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital Wednesday afternoon after he was pulled from the lake by police marine officers.

An autopsy is scheduled at Hamilton General Hospital today.

His name is not being released at the request of his family, said Sergeant Dave Cross of Halton police.

A second man injured in the accident is in fair condition in the same hospital, Cross said.

A dive boat with three men is believed to have been about two kilometres from shore and in about 85 metres of water when something went wrong.

Cross said police received a distress call at about 3 p.m. and police marine units from Halton, Peel and Toronto responded and located three men with the boat.

The divers were brought by police to a pier at the end of Navy Street, near the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek.

The man who died in hospital was pulled from the water without vital signs by the Toronto police marine unit. The second man was brought to shore by the Peel police marine unit.

It’s been reported the three men were planning to dive to the wreck of the Jesse Anne, a steel tugboat from the 1880s which had been converted to a barge and later eventually intentionally sunk off the Oavkille harbour.

A police vessel towed a dive boat with the word Aquaholic.ca on the side into the harbour.

Aquaholic.ca is the web address of a dive charter company, which runs regular dive charters and excursions to the shipwrecks of the lower Great Lakes, the Niagara and lower St. Lawrence rivers. The organization also offers scuba instruction.

 

[gitterdun]

While it is very sad that a diver has died, it is amazing how inaccurate the information in this report (and others) is (are)...

The wreck they were diving was not the one listed, the depth was not 85 meters, and there was even a report that they were diving without scuba equipment.

Let's hope that once the investigation is through, that we can get the straight facts and learn from it.

Thoughts and prayers to friends and family.

 

[DandyDon]

While it is very sad that a diver has died, it is amazing how inaccurate the information in this report (and others) is (are)...

The wreck they were diving was not the one listed, the depth was not 85 meters, and there was even a report that they were diving without scuba equipment.

Let's hope that once the investigation is through, that we can get the straight facts and learn from it.

Thoughts and prayers to friends and family.

Facts from subsequent investigations seldom appear on the net. We start with the lame news stories and hope others with facts will post them.

 

[gitterdun]

Facts from subsequent investigations seldom appear on the net. We start with the lame news stories and hope others with facts will post them.

Of course. It's just way out of whack to say 85 meters, when I don't even think there is a spot where they were (<edited to appease) that goes near that depth. It was more like 40 meters.

Edit.. It appears that there are spots that deep in the lake... but not where they were...

 

[gitterdun]

...they were in 40 meters of water.

 

[Crush]

Here is a more current article with more information: InsideHalton Article: Man dies in scuba diving mishap

An autopsy will be held today to determine what exactly killed a 37-year-old Welland man who died, Wednesday, following a scuba diving excursion off the coast of Oakville.

Police said three men, all experienced divers from the Niagara Region, were exploring a shipwreck and were about 130 feet underwater when something went wrong.

“The one diver looked over and the second diver indicated that he was in distress. The first diver went over to him and tried to help him out; they exchanged their emergency air bottles and they started up towards the surface,” said Sgt. Brian Carr, Halton police spokesperson.

“The diver who is now deceased became more distressed. The other diver kept it together. They had to slow (their ascent); they were going up too fast. At this point we don’t know if the deceased diver suffered medical distress in the water or equipment distress. We’re not sure, the investigation is continuing.”

Police received a mayday distress signal from the divers’ boat at around 3:30 p.m. with marine units from Halton, Peel and Toronto responding.

The two divers involved in the emergency were taken to east pier of Oakville Harbour where they were transferred to ambulances and taken to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital with undetermined injuries.

The diver who went into distress has since died while the diver who came to his aid is now listed in fair condition.

A third diver was in the water, but was some distance away from the other two and was not involved in their ascent and was not injured.

The victim has been transported to Hamilton General Hospital where a post mortem examination will be conducted in an effort to determine his exact cause of death.

A police vessel was seen towing a boat with the word Aquaholic.ca on the side.

Aquaholic.ca is the web address of a dive charter company, which runs regular dive charters and excursions to the shipwrecks of the lower Great Lakes, the Niagara and lower St. Lawrence rivers.

The organization also offers scuba instruction.

Police said no charges have been laid at this time.

The identity of the deceased man has not been released at his family’s request.

The Halton Regional Police Service is continuing to investigate this incident and anyone with information related to it is asked to contact the Oakville Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext. 2213.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

It appears from this link
TheSpec - Diver dead after accident in Lake Ontario near...
that Aquaholics Dive charters was involved in the accident. Wednesday dives that were planned, according to the facebook page for aquaholics were lyman davis 135', sligo 66', bermingham crane. 135'. In time, details may come out... However, we might not get any details. This will be a very stressful time for everyone involved, including friends, family and many other local divers.

 

[flots am]

I don't know squat about the incident, but can tell you that below the thermocline, Ontario can easily be in the very low 40's.

Given the number of freeflows and divers that are unprepared for the temperature, depth and gas requirements, I can only say that I'm amazed there aren't more problems.

flots.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

I don't know squat about the incident, but can tell you that below the thermocline, Ontario can easily be in the very low 40's.

Given the number of freeflows and divers that are unprepared for the temperature, depth and gas requirements, I can only say that I'm amazed there aren't more problems.

flots.

Yes, this is true. We do have cold water temps here, even after a super hot summer like we have just had. However, there has been no mention as to what has caused this accident.

 

[cruiser]

When diving those depths and temps, are there required cold water regs that are part of everyone's gear? If someone showed up on the boat in a reg that absolutely couldn't handle those temps, would they be pulled aside and told they're not going to dive? I don't dive that cold so I don't know about cold water regs.