Diving accident on the Cedarville

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kafkaland

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Location
Saline, Michigan
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I was wreck diving in the Straits of Mackinac this weekend, and on Saturday we overheard on VHF communications about a rescue / recovery effort of a diver on the Cedarville, off a private boat. Later at the dock in St. Ignace, someone involved in the operation confirmed it with more details. Before I post any more on this here, has anyone seen a reliable news report on this yet?
 
Good chance there will not be a news report. Not an accurate one anyway.

Well, if it was as serious as suggested by the Coast Guard radio, and a local dive operator involved in the recovery (one diver dead, a second rushed off to the chamber), it's likely that there will be something, and I really hope for a good DAN report. The second-hand reports that I have heard from the sources above indicate a chain of diver errors that many could learn from, even though everyone might say that this couldn't happen to him or her. But I'm reluctant to post the details here until there is some credible confirmation.
 
There is a news report, not sure how accurate it is. Some of it matches what I heard from other divers who were in the area on Saturday. The diver has been identified. Minnesota diver dies in the Straits of Mackinac : News : UpNorthLive.com

Article reprinted below:

Minnesota diver dies in the Straits of Mackinac
by Michelle Nemmers
Posted: 08.11.2014 at 12:09 PM UpNorthLive.com

CHEBOYGAN CO -- A 64-year-old man died while diving in the Straits of Mackinac on Saturday afternoon.

Dennis Javens, of Mankato Minnesota, was diving to see the sunken vessel, Cedarville, east of the Mackinac Bridge with friends on a private boat.

According to the Cheboygan County Sheriff's office, Javens ran out of air and was unable to return to the surface.

"He was with a partner and the buddy systems was used but at some point Mr. Javens became unresponsive and his partner was unable to get him to the surface," says Sheriff Clarmont.

Javens' diving partner came up from the water and a call for help was placed. A crew member from the Northern Michigan Dive Center, who was doing a separate dive on the Cedarville at the time, was able to bring Jarvens to the surface.

Jarvens was rushed to the shore where emergency personnel tried to revive him. Jarvens was pronounced dead at the scene.

"From the investigation it appears Mr. Javens was under the water for about 20 minutes," says Sheriff Clarmont.

"All the equipment was inspected and found to be in working order and the main tank was still full," says Clarmont, "It appears from the investigation that Mr. Javens started on his reserve tank and when it ran out of air, thinking it was his main tank, attempted to go to his reserve which was empty."

The sheriff's office says that an autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning at Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids.



Bob
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That's my point, people, by and large, are not taught that diving can be deadly, they are taught how safe it is, and they are not equipped with the skills, taught and trained to the level required to be useful in an emergency.
 
I'll be diving with the Northern Michigan Dive Center this Saturday. I won't fish for details, but if they share any information that could/should be passed along I'll be sure to do so.
 
There is a news report, not sure how accurate it is. Some of it matches what I heard from other divers who were in the area on Saturday. The diver has been identified. Minnesota diver dies in the Straits of Mackinac : News : UpNorthLive.com

This pretty much matches with what I heard while I was up there, on VHF while it unfolded, and at the dock from someone who was involved in the recovery later. So I feel more confident about posting details as I have heard them, but please keep in mind that this is second-hand and I cannot vouch for accuracy.

Three divers on a private boat set out to dive the Cedarville, a large wreck that sits at 105 ft. The conditions were excellent (calm waters, 50ft. viz), but the water cold (~40F at depth). 18 minutes into the dive, buddy realized that Javens had a problem. I do not know if he was already unresponsive at that point just very soon thereafter. Buddy tried to bring Javens up to the surface, but his BCD did not have enough lift and he ditched his own weights (instead of Javens'). He lost grip of Javens and had an uncontrolled ascent, and was rushed to the nearest chamber. I'm not sure what the third diver was doing, but on the radio they mentioned that they didn't have anyone on board to go into the water for a rescue attempt.
Another boat with a rescue diver arrived at the scene within maybe fifteen minutes, and he was able to bring the unresponsive Javens up very quickly. The rescue diver reported an empty pony, but full tank on the back, a disconnected BCD inflator hose, and a non-functioning drysuit inflator on Javens. Javens did not show any signs of life, but was rushed to the next hospital where he was pronounced dead. RIP.
 
This pretty much matches with what I heard while I was up there, on VHF while it unfolded, and at the dock from someone who was involved in the recovery later. So I feel more confident about posting details as I have heard them, but please keep in mind that this is second-hand and I cannot vouch for accuracy.

Three divers on a private boat set out to dive the Cedarville, a large wreck that sits at 105 ft. The conditions were excellent (calm waters, 50ft. viz), but the water cold (~40F at depth). 18 minutes into the dive, buddy realized that Javens had a problem. I do not know if he was already unresponsive at that point just very soon thereafter. Buddy tried to bring Javens up to the surface, but his BCD did not have enough lift and he ditched his own weights (instead of Javens'). He lost grip of Javens and had an uncontrolled ascent, and was rushed to the nearest chamber. I'm not sure what the third diver was doing, but on the radio they mentioned that they didn't have anyone on board to go into the water for a rescue attempt.
Another boat with a rescue diver arrived at the scene within maybe fifteen minutes, and he was able to bring the unresponsive Javens up very quickly. The rescue diver reported an empty pony, but full tank on the back, a disconnected BCD inflator hose, and a non-functioning drysuit inflator on Javens. Javens did not show any signs of life, but was rushed to the next hospital where he was pronounced dead. RIP.


WOW another diver killed by mixing up the pony and primary reg.. (and then a string of further errors).
 
I agree that the dangers of diving are not talked about enough in basic OW class.
Many years ago when I started skydiving, that is all that we talked about and practiced for in the first class and reviewed every class.
We did it to the point that a dangerous activity was made much safer.We practiced over and over again on land untangling twisted lines and cutting away a chute and properly deploying a reserve and how to handle wind gusts and airplane malfunctions.
Seems you hardly get and training for when things go wrong in scuba besides a mention from the dive instructor.
Just my thoughts.
RT
 
Skydiving is exponentially more dangerous than scuba diving. and USPA does not have the competition that PADI does to sell memberships.
 

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