Sorry if this has already been posted. If anyone else has more information on this story please post it. It seems like "training accidents" are few, especially those resulting in death. Would like to try and ascertain whether it's more diver related or instructor/supervisor related.
By Thomas R. Collins, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 23, 2003
A 52-year old dad learning to scuba dive with his son died Sunday after being pulled from the ocean off Palm Beach.
Allen Altschuler got into trouble while his teenage son was swimming nearby.
His wife was at the surface aboard a charter boat called The Wetter The Better.
About 20 other divers were with them about 9:10 a.m. when Altschuler needed help, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokesman Paul Miller said.
"One of the dive masters saw something wrong, that he was having some difficulty, so they immediately brought him up to the surface," Miller said.
A U.S. Coast Guard crew rushed to the boat and tried to revive Altschuler with CPR. Soon, a sheriff's marine unit arrived and escorted the boat to the Riviera Beach Marina, Miller said.
Altschuler, of Greenacres, was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he died.
He lived in the Canalakes community, where the streets have water-related names: Wharf Lane, Canalside Drive, Shoreview Boulevard, Pier Drive.
The porch of his family's townhouse is decorated with a miniature waterside village mounted on the wall, a row of wood-frame shops and eateries with signs that read, "Harold's Bait Shop" and "Seafood."
The family was too grief-stricken Sunday to talk about their loss.
A glimpse of Altschuler's family life was captured in a Palm Beach Post story about a street-painting festival seven years ago. Michael Altschuler, then age 6, made chalk drawings on Lake Worth's downtown streets as his gleeful dad watched on Feb. 24, 1996.
"We were here last year and he loved it," Altschuler said that day. "We went down every aisle and saw everybody doing their masterpieces, and we couldn't wait to get to this aisle and start."
By Thomas R. Collins, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 23, 2003
A 52-year old dad learning to scuba dive with his son died Sunday after being pulled from the ocean off Palm Beach.
Allen Altschuler got into trouble while his teenage son was swimming nearby.
His wife was at the surface aboard a charter boat called The Wetter The Better.
About 20 other divers were with them about 9:10 a.m. when Altschuler needed help, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokesman Paul Miller said.
"One of the dive masters saw something wrong, that he was having some difficulty, so they immediately brought him up to the surface," Miller said.
A U.S. Coast Guard crew rushed to the boat and tried to revive Altschuler with CPR. Soon, a sheriff's marine unit arrived and escorted the boat to the Riviera Beach Marina, Miller said.
Altschuler, of Greenacres, was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he died.
He lived in the Canalakes community, where the streets have water-related names: Wharf Lane, Canalside Drive, Shoreview Boulevard, Pier Drive.
The porch of his family's townhouse is decorated with a miniature waterside village mounted on the wall, a row of wood-frame shops and eateries with signs that read, "Harold's Bait Shop" and "Seafood."
The family was too grief-stricken Sunday to talk about their loss.
A glimpse of Altschuler's family life was captured in a Palm Beach Post story about a street-painting festival seven years ago. Michael Altschuler, then age 6, made chalk drawings on Lake Worth's downtown streets as his gleeful dad watched on Feb. 24, 1996.
"We were here last year and he loved it," Altschuler said that day. "We went down every aisle and saw everybody doing their masterpieces, and we couldn't wait to get to this aisle and start."
