Caymans Fatality

[DandyDon]

From cayCompass.com :: Diver death investigated

A 47-year-old American tourist died Friday morning while diving off North West Point, Royal Cayman Islands Police reported.

At about 9.30am the woman was diving at the Little Tunnel Dive site off the coast of West Bay. As she ascended she appeared to get into difficulty and, on surfacing, lost consciousness, police said.

Staff from Red Sail Sports administered CPR as they brought the woman to shore to meet with the emergency services.

The woman was conveyed to the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town, where she was found to be dead on arrival.

 

[mdb]

US tourist dies while diving in Cayman Islands - Yahoo! News

 

[diversteve]

threads merged...

 

[khblair]

any more details on this accident/death?

 

[Garth]

Active during accent? Breath more on accent? Interesting thoughts. I was taught to relax and breathe normally. Over exerting has its own issues.

 

[Thalassamania]

You need to have your glottis open, exhaling (or "active breathing") really has little or nothing to do with it. The idea is to prevent a lung overpressure injury, which may not, if your lung are not full, be that great a volume.

 

[Mark Derail]

Guess exactly where I will be in exactly three weeks....I need an anti-LOL icon or a non-LOL. I'll be keeping an eye on this story.

Greatest worry is always bad air in the cylinder.

Info on the dive site - according to Franko's Dive Map of GC

Little Tunnels, 30' to 65' (9-20m) Mooring at 58' (17m). Shore accessible spot that can be enjoyed as a snorkel adventure.

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So obviously this won't be a bends-related dive issue?

 

[Texas Torpedo]

Greatest worry is always bad air in the cylinder.

Do you have a CO tester? Wouldn't have to worry about bad air as much if you do..

 

[Mark Derail]

Do you have a CO tester? Wouldn't have to worry about bad air as much if you do..

Seriously considering getting one.

There's not enough info on this case for conclusions, other than it was a shallow dive. Bad air has just the right scare factor.

 

[AggieDiver]

Actually, if I were going to speculate on a cause just based on the meager details provided in the story, I would lean towards cardiac incident. Diver over 45, had incident at surface or while surfacing at end of a shallow, easy dive...but that is just pure speculation. A bad air incident would typically affect more than one diver on the boat and would happen earlier in the dive, not at the end. Hopefully we will eventually get more details or an update from Red Sail about the details of the incident.