Spearfishing accident in South Africa

[ShoalDiverSA]

Read about it here:

Spear gun victim 'lucky to be alive' (http://iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060105075816110C394480)

Cheers,

Andrew

[SA-Diver]

A Loaded speargun above water?
To show others how it works?

I say his lucky that he managed to shoot himself rather than an innocent bystander.

[rigdiver]

Read about it here:

Spear gun victim 'lucky to be alive' (http://iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060105075816110C394480)

Cheers,

Andrew
This one should be nominated for the Darwin awards. I'd like to know the exact specifics of how anyone could manage to shoot themselves in the chest. It's too deep for my shallow mind. It borders on impossible.
I've been around spearguns actively for thirty years and can not comprehend how this could happen. Think of the angle of entry?????
Some accidents I have first hand knowledge of: A guy was loading a big pneumatic in his garage, slipped and the shaft went through his armpit, through the sheet rock ceiling and stuck in a rafter. He was a big wt lifter, walked in the house and could barely say "help" to his wife. Rushed to the hospital and had emergency surgery. He tore an artery. Lucky to be alive. Another person was "testing" a bang stick mounted on the end of a speargun. He shot the shaft at a 2x4 that was just past the length of the cable the gun was rigged with. The shaft flew back and hit him flat on the head. It was loaded with a 12 ga shotgun shell. Had it been a direct hit it would've blown his head off.
Spearguns are very dangerous out of and in the water. The water takes so much velocity out of em compared to air. I saw a guy shoot a free shaft out of a pneumatic in the parking lot of a dive store once. It went 200+ ft. Would not have gone 30' UW.
The mid-handle pneumatics are especially unsafe. Many people have shot themselves in the head while trying to load them.
My 2 cents worth;
Bill

[ReefGuy]

That's what I was thinking. It must have been a small pneumatic, or somebody else actually shot it.

[devolution365]

I'd like to know the exact specifics of how anyone could manage to shoot themselves in the chest. It's too deep for my shallow mind. It borders on impossible.

Yeah. From the description in the article the spear went through his left pectoral muscle, just missed the heart, went through the diaphram, nicked the liver and the barbs ended up in his intestines. That's quite a trajectory. He would have had to have been holding it over his head!?! How could that possibly happen (accidentally)?

[abman]

oops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yep, you get the darwin award, here's your sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[diversmarts]

Poor *******.

My black ops group has established an all preventive measure for this:

Steel plated vests under the wetsuit, or drysuit for that matter.

[Scuba Brad]

In the words of the late Jim Farley.........."now thats going to leave a mark"

Happy Diving

[pop dog]

maybe he was holding the loaded gun by the barrel and was trying to get something out of a cave by using the handle as a hook or something... I do that sometimes, you know, for fun!