Diver death
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Sirius Diver
Contributor
[font=Times, Times New Roman, Serif, MS Serif]My condolences to friends and family.[/font]
[font=Times, Times New Roman, Serif, MS Serif]OTTAWADespite a scuba instructor's rescue attempt, a 51-year-old man died yesterday while scouring a 19th-century shipwreck in the St. Lawrence River.
Robert Connell of Toronto was exploring the wreck of the Lillie Parsons, a 39-metre-long schooner near Brockville, when he died.
An autopsy has yet to be performed, but Alec Peirce, owner of Scuba 2000, the company Connell was diving with, said police told his instructors the man likely had a heart attack. "Unfortunately, when you're under water and you have a heart attack, you drown," he said. "He had good equipment, lots of air, he was experienced and he went unconscious what else could it be?"
Ron Irvine, a certified instructor, "rocketed" to the surface with Connell in his arms, but the man was dead even as they surfaced, Peirce said.
CANADIAN PRESS
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1097531409090&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467[/font]
[font=Times, Times New Roman, Serif, MS Serif]OTTAWADespite a scuba instructor's rescue attempt, a 51-year-old man died yesterday while scouring a 19th-century shipwreck in the St. Lawrence River.
Robert Connell of Toronto was exploring the wreck of the Lillie Parsons, a 39-metre-long schooner near Brockville, when he died.
An autopsy has yet to be performed, but Alec Peirce, owner of Scuba 2000, the company Connell was diving with, said police told his instructors the man likely had a heart attack. "Unfortunately, when you're under water and you have a heart attack, you drown," he said. "He had good equipment, lots of air, he was experienced and he went unconscious what else could it be?"
Ron Irvine, a certified instructor, "rocketed" to the surface with Connell in his arms, but the man was dead even as they surfaced, Peirce said.
CANADIAN PRESS
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1097531409090&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467[/font]
CUunderH2O
Contributor
That's really tragic news. We were out diving the Keystorm yesterday and heard about 2 divers off the Lillie being taken to the hospital. Hope the other diver is OK?
cobaltbabe
Diva of the Deep
It's always horrible to hear that a diver has passed away. My thoughts are with his family and his buddy.
DI_Guy
Contributor
I offer my utmost and sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Thank you to the instructor for bringing him to the surface quickly and attempting to save him. I always wonder if it was wise to do this and risk his own safety. We don't know at what depth the rapid ascent started and we should not speculate.
I am saddened by this terrible accident.
Al
Thank you to the instructor for bringing him to the surface quickly and attempting to save him. I always wonder if it was wise to do this and risk his own safety. We don't know at what depth the rapid ascent started and we should not speculate.
I am saddened by this terrible accident.
Al
Air_Miser
Guest
Scuba diver dies while exploring shipwreck
Frantic rescue fails to save 51-year-old man
Greg McArthur
The Ottawa Citizen
October 12, 2004
Despite a scuba instructor's rescue attempt, a 51-year-old man died yesterday while scouring a 19th-century shipwreck in the St. Lawrence River.
Robert Connell of Toronto was exploring the wreck of the Lillie Parsons, a 39-metre-long schooner near Brockville, when he died. An autopsy has yet to be performed, but Alec Peirce, the owner of the company Mr. Connell was diving with, said police told his instructors the man likely had a heart attack.
"Unfortunately, when you're under water and you have a heart attack, you drown," said Mr. Peirce, the owner of Scuba 2000. "He had good equipment, lots of air, he was experienced and he went unconscious -- what else could it be?"
Ron Irvine, a certified instructor, "rocketed" to the surface with Mr. Connell in his arms when the instructor noticed Mr. Connell was sinking, said Mr. Peirce. The man was dead even as they surfaced, he said.
"Ron will need some counselling ... he's a really sensitive person. He'll be devastated."
Mr. Irvine, 38, was rushed to the Ottawa Hospital's General campus to be treated for a possible air embolism and has since been released.
The pair were part of a 12-person group diving with the Richmond Hill-based company over the weekend. Mr. Connell and Mr. Irvine were diving in a foursome, which included two other certified instructors, Mr. Peirce said.
It was the crew's first dive of the day, said Melanie Gemme, an employee with the charter company that carried the group to the wreck, which is just half a kilometre from Sparrow Island.
Mr. Connell would have been underwater for about 25 minutes when he died. They hit the water at about 10:30 a.m. and at 10:57 a.m., the coast guard was on the radio calling for help.
Chris Chu, an instructor from Ottawa, was one of the divers on the river when the rescue call came in. At least two charter companies raced to the island to rescue the man. One company drove Mr. Connell to the ambulance, while a company called Total Diving brought the rest of the Scuba 2000 group to shore.
"If you were on the water, you truly would have been blown away at the response time," said Mr. Chu.
Mr. Peirce remembered Mr. Connell as an enthusiastic guy who was excited about getting away for the weekend and said the 51-year-old appeared to be in good shape.
The owner called scuba diving one of the safest sports around, and said diving accidents are almost never caused by failing equipment. In his store's more than 25 years, this diving season is the only one where there's been a serious accident.
Aviva Barth, 30, was diving with Scuba 2000 in August in Lake Simcoe when a powerboat raced near the flags marking her territory, killing her. South Simcoe police are still hunting for the boaters, who sped off toward Barrie, likely not knowing they had killed her.
"One or two accidents in the province of Ontario is a bad year," Mr. Peirce said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
Frantic rescue fails to save 51-year-old man
Greg McArthur
The Ottawa Citizen
October 12, 2004
Despite a scuba instructor's rescue attempt, a 51-year-old man died yesterday while scouring a 19th-century shipwreck in the St. Lawrence River.
Robert Connell of Toronto was exploring the wreck of the Lillie Parsons, a 39-metre-long schooner near Brockville, when he died. An autopsy has yet to be performed, but Alec Peirce, the owner of the company Mr. Connell was diving with, said police told his instructors the man likely had a heart attack.
"Unfortunately, when you're under water and you have a heart attack, you drown," said Mr. Peirce, the owner of Scuba 2000. "He had good equipment, lots of air, he was experienced and he went unconscious -- what else could it be?"
Ron Irvine, a certified instructor, "rocketed" to the surface with Mr. Connell in his arms when the instructor noticed Mr. Connell was sinking, said Mr. Peirce. The man was dead even as they surfaced, he said.
"Ron will need some counselling ... he's a really sensitive person. He'll be devastated."
Mr. Irvine, 38, was rushed to the Ottawa Hospital's General campus to be treated for a possible air embolism and has since been released.
The pair were part of a 12-person group diving with the Richmond Hill-based company over the weekend. Mr. Connell and Mr. Irvine were diving in a foursome, which included two other certified instructors, Mr. Peirce said.
It was the crew's first dive of the day, said Melanie Gemme, an employee with the charter company that carried the group to the wreck, which is just half a kilometre from Sparrow Island.
Mr. Connell would have been underwater for about 25 minutes when he died. They hit the water at about 10:30 a.m. and at 10:57 a.m., the coast guard was on the radio calling for help.
Chris Chu, an instructor from Ottawa, was one of the divers on the river when the rescue call came in. At least two charter companies raced to the island to rescue the man. One company drove Mr. Connell to the ambulance, while a company called Total Diving brought the rest of the Scuba 2000 group to shore.
"If you were on the water, you truly would have been blown away at the response time," said Mr. Chu.
Mr. Peirce remembered Mr. Connell as an enthusiastic guy who was excited about getting away for the weekend and said the 51-year-old appeared to be in good shape.
The owner called scuba diving one of the safest sports around, and said diving accidents are almost never caused by failing equipment. In his store's more than 25 years, this diving season is the only one where there's been a serious accident.
Aviva Barth, 30, was diving with Scuba 2000 in August in Lake Simcoe when a powerboat raced near the flags marking her territory, killing her. South Simcoe police are still hunting for the boaters, who sped off toward Barrie, likely not knowing they had killed her.
"One or two accidents in the province of Ontario is a bad year," Mr. Peirce said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
my utmost and sincere condolences to his family. This diver was on a PADI deep air course diving near the Lillie, "he got away from his instructor" and found himself swimming up river again the current stress and panic combined set in. The instructor eventually found the diver unconscious and "rushed" to the surface with the diver creating a second situation for him self. This unfortunately is a case of the instructor not having enough control over himself and his students while instructing on a dive. PADI will be investigating this second incident involving an instructor from Scuba 2000 and will take the appropriate measures if any.
Mr A
Mr A
Mr Adams:
Do you know the people involved in this case? You seem to have more information than us. All we have are the newspaper articles.
Mr Adams,
This is a serious claim you're making against the instructor. Were you there? How do you know all this?
This situation is bad enough without the rest of us onlookers speculating on what happened and what will happen, don't you think?
This is a serious claim you're making against the instructor. Were you there? How do you know all this?
This situation is bad enough without the rest of us onlookers speculating on what happened and what will happen, don't you think?
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