Accident Report...

Shortly after arriving at one of our local dive spots this weekend a woman came running across the parking lot screaming for help, she said that there were two divers struggling in the water yelling for help. My buddy and I ran to the water to see what was happening, and when we got there we saw the two divers and one of them was trying to tow the other to shore while waving and yelling for help. I ran down the dock, grabbed the rescue can and dove in to go help while my buddy ran to get the throw rope bag. When I reached the divers, diver#1, the one who was trying to tow the other diver in told me that he had gotten severe cramps in both legs and could not continue towing, so after making sure that he was okay and bouyant I checked the other diver, diver#2, who was by this time vomiting and somewhat combative, I then started towing diver#2 to shore and after I had gone about 75ft or so my buddy arrived with the throw rope and threw it to me. After I grabbed the rope my buddy pulled us in and we removed diver#2 from the water and took off her tank & BC and unzipped and pulled down the top part of her wetsuit(6.5mm farmer/john). At this time she was dry-heaving, breathing fast and had a pulse of 155bpm, we then noticed that she had blood coming from her left ear. We then got the Dan O2 kit and put it on her during which time she tried to punch all of us. My buddy then went to throw the rope back out to diver#1, and when he did, diver#1 said that he was okay now and that he still had students underwater that he had to go get. My buddy came back and told me what diver#1 said and since the lady who had asked us for help was an RN and diver#2 appeared to be stable, we ran to get our equipment to go down and look for the other divers since diver#1 did not say if they were okay or not, but by the time we got back from the truck diver#1 and his other students were on the surface and making their way to shore okay. Within about 10 minutes of us getting diver#2 out of the water the first responders showed up and took over and started preparing diver#2 for transport. After they left for the hospital I had time to talk with diver#1(who is an instructor) and find out what happened, and here is how he explained it. He said he had brought the three students to the lake in order for them to practice some skills that they had trouble with on their first OW dives, and that the plan was to drop down to the platform at 20ft, practice the skills, and then take a short tour of the 20ft ledge that the platform sits on for fun. He stated that everybody dropped down to the platform okay and they were about to start doing their skills when the diver closest to him had a fin fall off, he then said that he knelt down to help the other diver put his fin back on and when he rose back up he noticed that one of the divers was gone and the diver who had previously been beside the missing diver was frantically waving and pointing down over the ledge.(The platform I am talking about sits on a ledge about 22ft deep, but if you drop over the back of the platform it goes almost straight down to 68ft) At this time he said that he went down the ledge to look for diver#2, and he luckily, and I say luckily because vis was about 5-8ft that day, landed almost on top of her. When he found her he said she was on her knees, breathing rapidly and had her hands over her ears. He got hold of her and started taking her to the surface, and he said that she started flailing on the way up. Once he got them to the surface he dropped her weights and inflated her BC before he started towing her, and yelled for help, and he had been towing her for about 2-3 minutes before developing cramps, and it was at about this that we arrived and started helping.

Here are some facts: This was the instructors second class ever, and he had a grand total of 82 dives in his 2yr diving career. There was not another instructor, AI, or DM in the water with him. The water was 52 degrees and the viz was 5-8ft. The injured diver was 5'5" tall and weighed 120lbs, she was wearing 30lbs of weight in her Zeagle Ranger, this was verified when my buddy and I later recovered her weights. The instructor did not have an O2 kit, the O2 kit used was ours. The instructor did not tell the first responders the true story, this really pissed me off. He instead told them that she just took off and when he grabbed her she fought him off and swam to the bottom where he then went and rescued her from. I have no idea why he told them this, and after finding out what the real story was we passed it along to the medical personel as well as the authorities. The one thing we didn't do was grab something to take notes on, but we did brief the first responders as best we could and we also wrote everything down while it was still fresh on our minds after getting the real story. The girl has busted eardrums and never wants to get in the water again, but they released her the next day and she is going to be okay. I would like to get everyone's thoughts on this, and how you think we handled the situation. Also, have any of you ever seen someone who you were trying to help fight you like Mike Tyson. Thanks

is actually quite common in panic situations. It sounds to me that you guys did what you could do. Thankfully the injured diver is generally OK.

The scenario is pretty scary(conditions, students, new instructor)

JT2 once bubbled...
...have any of you ever seen someone who you were trying to help fight you like Mike Tyson....

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You mean she tried to bite your ear off, too?

Sounds to me like diver #2 (A.K.A. the victim), diver #1 (A.K.A. the instructor), and the rest of the class are all fortunate that you showed up when you did. It could have turned out a lot worse. Give yourself a well deserved pat on the back!

Obviously over weighted but should have been more than enough lift int he bc to keep her up. I wonder how she ended up on the bottom and not on the platform. I remember having trouble keeping a comfortable position on the training paltforms where i did my OW but I never rember having trouble staying ont he platform.

The worst part of it is that she will likely never dive agian becuase of the experience/accident. It sounds like the instructor meant well by helping students with skills they had trouble with on their OW check out dives, but it also sounds like he was over his head.

How do you become an instructor with only 82 dives? I always thought that 100 was the minimum for all agencies.

Nice job helping out, good work.

Sounds like that class was an accident waiting to happen.

BTW, do you have a medical background? Just wondering since you knew to take her pulse (155, it's amazing what a little adrenaline will do) and since you gave her O2 without permission.

jasondbaker once bubbled...
How do you become an instructor with only 82 dives? I always thought that 100 was the minimum for all agencies.

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I can't answer that question because I don't know what all of the agencies require, but I can tell you that he is a PADI certified instructor and he has the C-card to prove it. I know that around here if you have enough money to pay for private classes you can get just about any C-card you want. I have also heard many divers talk about lieing about the number of dives they had in order for them to sign up for other classes. Let's face it, it would'nt be that hard for a wrongly motivated individual to falsify a log book.

that PADI requires 100 dives with a verification signature with each dive. This is supposed to be checked before proceeding with the IDC. I may be totally confused about the number of dives required but I was told that a few years back.

This event is more about the instructor in this case making some poor choices then what number of dives are required.

MASS-Diver once bubbled...BTW, do you have a medical background? Just wondering since you knew to take her pulse (155, it's amazing what a little adrenaline will do) and since you gave her O2 without permission.

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No, I do not have any formal training, but I grew up in a house full of diabetics and have been through many emergency situations, and my rescue instructor was also an EMT and taught us much more than what was required. As far as administering the O2 without permission is concerned, the lady who was helping us on shore was an RN and she actually administered the oxygen.