Guba
Contributor
Guba, I'd love to hear your contributions on things that can go disastrously wrong despite good planning and good execution. That's the kind of thing that would make this thread a real educational experience for someone reading it. TS&M
Okay, here goes...I'll try to keep both scenarios short.
The first "disaster" involved an extremely experienced, professional underwater videographer/photographer. The entire group (multiple dive pairs) descended onto a reef at about 85 feet for the first dive of the day. The photog spent the entire 45 minute dive roaming from team to team getting footage, then ascended up the downline, pausing often to shoot more video while hanging at multiple depths. Safety stop at 15 feet was about four minutes, and the rest of the ascent was slow and measured, partly due to a short waiting line for the boat's twin ladders. Completely uneventful...until about two minutes after re-boarding the boat. Said diver noted that he "felt funny" and things started happening pretty fast. In short, a DCI hit that entailed heading for shore immediately while we administered oxygen and later, fluids. By the way, he made a full recovery after hyperbaric treatments. A subsequent review of his computer showed absolutely no abnormalities or "violations".
The other instance was on a similar dive location, on a pretty deep reef (80 feet minimum), but that's really irrelevant. The diver, my partner, entered the water first and I followed. I had only gotten settled on the surface and started to swim over to him when he started calling for assistance, complaining that he couldn't breath. A standard "rescue" ensued...getting him positive, repositioning his regulator, reassuring him, and towing him to the stern. He went totally unresponsive as we were trying to get him up the ladder.
In short, he experienced a lethal brain aneurism and his death was probably unrelated to diving per se. I cannot vouch for his long term physical conditon, but we all had to have thorough medical exams in order to be a part of that expedition. Of course, that type of exam can't catch everything.
The only common thread, I believe, is that in neither case were the causes of the accidents clearly evident beforehand.
Okay, here goes...I'll try to keep both scenarios short.
The first "disaster" involved an extremely experienced, professional underwater videographer/photographer. The entire group (multiple dive pairs) descended onto a reef at about 85 feet for the first dive of the day. The photog spent the entire 45 minute dive roaming from team to team getting footage, then ascended up the downline, pausing often to shoot more video while hanging at multiple depths. Safety stop at 15 feet was about four minutes, and the rest of the ascent was slow and measured, partly due to a short waiting line for the boat's twin ladders. Completely uneventful...until about two minutes after re-boarding the boat. Said diver noted that he "felt funny" and things started happening pretty fast. In short, a DCI hit that entailed heading for shore immediately while we administered oxygen and later, fluids. By the way, he made a full recovery after hyperbaric treatments. A subsequent review of his computer showed absolutely no abnormalities or "violations".
The other instance was on a similar dive location, on a pretty deep reef (80 feet minimum), but that's really irrelevant. The diver, my partner, entered the water first and I followed. I had only gotten settled on the surface and started to swim over to him when he started calling for assistance, complaining that he couldn't breath. A standard "rescue" ensued...getting him positive, repositioning his regulator, reassuring him, and towing him to the stern. He went totally unresponsive as we were trying to get him up the ladder.
In short, he experienced a lethal brain aneurism and his death was probably unrelated to diving per se. I cannot vouch for his long term physical conditon, but we all had to have thorough medical exams in order to be a part of that expedition. Of course, that type of exam can't catch everything.
The only common thread, I believe, is that in neither case were the causes of the accidents clearly evident beforehand.