Diving Accident over the weekend

Gloucester police/fire


Diver Med-flighted

A 48-year-old man was flown into Boston so he could be placed in a special repressurization chamber after he was in a scuba-diving accident yesterday morning.

Though he was awake when rescuers arrived at Harbor Loop around 9:30 a.m., he was having trouble breathing, a sign that he may have suffered life-threatening decompression sickness from ascending too quickly from his dive.

The man was diving off the coast at a depth of about 100 feet when he ran out of air in his tanks, according to the Fire Department. He began to head up to the surface of the water at a safe speed, but when he reached a depth of about 35 feet, he suddenly began ascending more quickly. Rescuers were not sure why his ascent sped up at that depth.

The man also ended up turning over in the water, surfacing upside-down, firefighters said.

He was taken to the Addison Gilbert Hospital while plans were made to fly him by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital, which has a hyperbaric chamber used for treating decompression sickness.

His condition was not known last night.

what does surfacing upside down change?

The uncontrolled ascent from 35 feet makes sense...the air in his wing expanded...he couldn't control it...and shot up to the surface.

I hope he is ok.

no updates on this...

Hopefully he's okay.

The article says:

"he was having trouble breathing, a sign that he may have suffered life-threatening decompression sickness"

That sounds like a possible pulmonary DCS hit ("the chokes"). It explains why they felt it was urgent enough to move him by helicopter.

lord1234:

what does surfacing upside down change?

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Click to expand...

It sounds like a sane flare maneuver to me. If so you flare backward with your face toward the surface so that if you pass out before surfacing you have a chance to have your face out of the water on the surface. The reasoning being that it might prevent drowning.

Unless I am misreading the posting this would be the same maneuver taught in most Open Water training courses.

If he was wearing a drysuit and did a feet first ascent, the risk of embolism increases as its harder to expell air from the lungs. Im wondering if this happened especially if he ditched all his weight.

It was interesting to read the most recent DAN magazine article about running out of gas. It's associated with a substantial proportion of diving fatalities, and it should be a vanishingly rare event. Although in very cold water, freeflows may not be completely avoidable, they should be easily survivable using good buddy skills. Other catastrophic gear failures are EXTREMELY rare, and sadly, the majority of people who run out of gas just . . . run out of gas. Lack of education in gas management and poor awareness are the reasons.

Anybody reading this thread who doesn't know what I mean by gas management should read THIS article. This is information you basically will not get in any mainstream recreational diving course sequence.

FWIW:
CDNN :: Severely Injured Scuba Diver Airlifted to Hospital