Hong Kong diver dead in spearfishing accident

[DandyDon]

Could the diver have been caught up in the excitement of his catch and been unaware of how deep he was going? Then when he realized it, he surfaced too fast

That's my speculation based on the news article, altho it is written to leave confusion. It sounds like he survived long enough "Realizing he was in deep waters, he tried to surface too fast, resulting in what many believed to be the bends" but it also says he drowned? I suspect that was a faulty translation involved. It did say they were diving off of Tung Lung Chau...

from Tung Lung Chau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tung Lung Chau (Chinese: 東龍洲, lit. eastern dragon island), also known as Nam Tong Island (南堂&#23798 is an island located off the tip of the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It is also referred by Hong Kong people as Tung Lung To or Tung Lung Island (東龍&#23798. The island is largely uninhabited. Administratively, it belongs to Sai Kung District.

 

[rovic]

how deep is deep in diver's point of view?..how many meters do you guys consider deep?

 

[DandyDon]

how deep is deep in diver's point of view?..how many meters do you guys consider deep?

Recreational divers are trained to 40 meters = 130 ft. Many of us have been deeper, but it's rare we get close to that.

60 meters = 196 feet is deeper than I have ever been, or want to be.

 

[Centrals]

The accident did not happen in HK territorial water contrary to the original report.
It happened in South China oil rig which is a favourite place for the local spearfishermen. Couple of hrs away by speed boat. An restricted area but .........The boat was probably not equipped with satelite phone therefore had to make a dash back to HK.

 

[RikRaeder]

It's not unheard of for spearfishers to get entangled in their line after they hit a fish. I think a freediver died last year that way.

My take on the article was that the Divemaster (Ma) went to the chamber (with wounds on his arms) and the diver who shot the fish (To) drowned. I gathered they, and the other four in their group, were all on Scuba.

 

[Dr Wu]

how deep is deep in diver's point of view?..how many meters do you guys consider deep?

One foot shallower than you can free ascend with a single lung full of air.

 

[ColinCB]

ASSUMING that the fish was actually 50kg, that's a 110lb fish. That fish would be a challenge strapped to a chair on the deck of ship. A fish that size, swimming full bore in panic is going to pull you down extremely quickly. But of course, this is assuming it was a 50kg fish.

edit for grammar.

 

[DevonDiver]

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[Matt P]

The book, The Helldivers Rodeo, discusses some "extreme" approaches to spear fishing off of oil rigs. It has been a few years but I seem to recall a description of the approach where the spear gun was harnessed to the diver when hunting massive fish. Is that what happened here? I have no idea. I wasn't there. I'm just suggesting that it might not be as simple as "letting go" of the spear gun as the fish drags you down.

 

[IyaDiver]

I been to the oil rig off Hong Kong, it was approx 70 n.miles away in the South China Sea. There are a few out there.
The water there is approx 100 meters ( 330 feet ) where I dove.

A 50kg fish can pull two divers easy or twice the fish body weight....anyday. If it is a grouper, it will swim slow, it if is those fast pelagics, easy 3+ knots with a diver in tow. Our fins at best will not generate more than 15kg of thrust and do that for 90 seconds, you start seeing stars from over extertion.

Usually scubahunters use their BCD to assist from being towed deep, which I personally will not use due to possible run-away ascent if the shooting line breaks.
The hell divers has special technique called I think a "rig riding" or something. Its a rope of a few meters long tied to the speargun and will be used as "friction makers" on the rigs legs when big fish pull them down. Swim and make a knot using that rope, the braking force is great.
BCD or fins is useless for tuna of even 40kg up which is not shot stoned.

The biggest fish in that South China sea oil rig will be grouper, billfish family, amberjack and in winter it is Yellowtail. That rigs has supply vessel going and coming, propellers killing a hunter is another possibility when hunter is outside the rig legs.

That poor hunter must have inflated his BCD to a 100% full state and at 60 meters or 7 ATM, that is a lot of air to dump later during run-away ascent and best to use the BCD dump valve by pulling on the big BCD air hose instead of using the slow inflator dump valve.

The only time I use my BCD maximum floatation was when I got sucked down by downcurrent, fins kicking and full BCD inflation only slowed me down but I kept sinking. No choice but I use my final secret weapon with additional 44 lbs of flotation. I was aiming for a sea mount but the current was 3.5 knots. Missed the sea mount and got eddy current creating down current and water depth was 600-2000 feet, so I got nothing to grab in that bluewater. Well me stupid for being too confident, I did this sea mount often at up to 2.5 knots current only and horizontal, never I experience vertical current...........and that nasty day was sooooo different.

Safe Dive guys
IYA