Missing Diver at Lake Pleasant

[IDS_Bill]

They haven't found him yet. The ROV has gotten stuck several times. When they locate the body, the ROV will then use its clamp and bring him up to a depth that one of the sheriffs divers can go down to.

As long as it is capable of extracting him...

 

[divecommunity]

Your right.

 

[F150Marine]

I have thought a lot about the incident and what could have caused it. At least with dive gear there will be many clues as to how it could have happened. Air remaining, punctioned PCD, worn parts and the data in the computer.

What I would like to see is a large NON-shop dive group. I think this would be great for Arizona and would love to be part of it. A great topic would be to discuss the ways this could have happened, how to prevent it and learn from it. I know if this ever happened to me I would want others to be able to learn from it. If there is a NON-dive shop group I would love to be part if it, please post details.

I hate hearing about this death and fear any restrictions that are made on us in the future without looking at the actual cause.

Just my thoughts go out to the family and to the boat they went out on.

 

[Jax]

Yeah, this is one that is just permeated with misfortune. :depressed:

 

[Dive-aholic]

Well from a PSD diver point of view, most LE dive units will hold at a max depth of 130. If the victim is located well beyond that limit, they will most likely bring in an outside agency to do the recovery. Thats not to say that there are no local divers who could do it, its just that the liability of having someone dive on the call and something happening to them is too risky. The lawyers would have field day with all the issues in that one. A paid service salvage dive team is covered by their own policy so if the dive goes bad, the local state and county is not on the hook for a multi-million dollar law suit. I don't know much about the Sheriff Dive Unit there; however, I would be VERY suprised if they are capable of TRIMIX diving. No PSD dive units that I know of will do this type of recovery. Myself and another member of our unit do tech but we would not be allowed to do an actual recovery deeper than 130 because our department insurance would not cover it. Using an ROV is the only way to go in a search like this. Without a last seen point you would not have enough divers to do a search of this size. Once the victim is located its a simple straight down and out profile. No more than 10 minutes bottom time.

This isn't completely accurate. I'm part of a non-LE organization that handles all recoveries/rescues because most LE divers are not trained or capable of performing the recoveries we do. These recoveries occur in caves and to depths beyond recreational limits. IUCRR

 

[mudchick]

Yeah, this is one that is just permeated with misfortune. :depressed:

I think that this unfortunate incident should be discussed for learning opportunities at some point in the future but without more information (experience of the diver, the equipment he was using, what his computer might have to tell us on his recovery, how much weight he was carrying on his bc, etc.) it is premature to discuss it in this way beyond pure news information gathering. The longer this goes on the harder it is on everyone, the searchers, the family and friends and everyone else concerned here. Just my $.02. Please don't flame.

 

[Jax]

I think that this unfortunate incident should be discussed for learning opportunities at some point in the future but without more information (experience of the diver, the equipment he was using, what his computer might have to tell us on his recovery, how much weight he was carrying on his bc, etc.) it is premature to discuss it in this way beyond pure news information gathering. The longer this goes on the harder it is on everyone, the searchers, the family and friends and everyone else concerned here. Just my $.02. Please don't flame.

Again, perhaps it should be moved to Accidents and Incidents for which just this sort of discussion was created.

 

[diversteve]

Again, perhaps it should be moved to Accidents and Incidents for which just this sort of discussion was created.

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

agreed...

---

 

[NeptunusRex]

I just hope they find him so the family can have some closure. I know of other people have have gone missing in this lake and the body never recovered. I've gone swimming/boating in LP tons of times but never dove it. Does the vis ever get better than 10ft?

 

[dbramley]

Yeah, we have seen viz in the 40+ foot range at certain times of the year