Coast Guard crews search for missing diver off of Key Biscayne

[iamrushman]

standing by for more info....will follow closely.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Not at all, I like to see a good discussion. The whole point of this forum is to see if we can learn from accidents and hopefully prevent a similar accident in the future. But we get very little info in these early news reports and it often turns out to be inaccurate.

I don't like to see folks rushing in to try an place blame on the boat crew (a violation of the rules in this forum) when there is inadequate information to even remotely believe they did anything wrong. I (with a great deal of sarcasm) offered equally plausible reasons why the crew might not have been able to do the things that they were assumed/speculated to have failed to do.

From the untrained eye, it seems that the posters have been very polite and restrained in what they have said. Yes they have said "I wonder why they did not do......" which does imply without fact that the operator did something wrong. But, they have done so in a manner which is conducive to polite conversation rather than the typical "jump all over the Operator and accuse them of everything" which one usually finds in these threads.

I think you are bitching in the wrong thread because there are many other threads that are way worse that could use those words. Some of the A&I threads contain epic rants placing blame......this thread is composed and minor. A more productive response from you might have started with "While we do not know for sure that the could follow the diver (perhaps they had divers on the anchor line), would it have been prudent for the boat to leave other divers in the water to retrieve.........." and go on from there. You point out that there is inaccuracy in their claim AND you spur on conversation. You guys are usually very good at doing this.......maybe today is a bad day.

 

[Oceandiver1]

On the news last night they said he jumped in with out his fins. They also said it was not a "charter" boat but a friends boat. They said he was an experienced diver. I guess he did not drop his weight belt and inflate his BC. Very sad

 

[Pedro Burrito]

The Coast Guard just posted an update:

Coast Guard continues search for missing diver | Coast Guard News

MIAMI – Coast Guard crews continue searching for a 39-year-old male diver who went missing approximately three nautical miles east of Key Biscayne, Fla., Sunday.

Coast Guard crews have conducted searches through out the night and early Monday morning with no results.


Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Miami received a call at 12:18 p.m., Sunday, reporting that a diver had jumped into the water without his flippers and began drifting away from the dive boat.


The diver was reported to have been wearing a black wet suit and a personal flotation device.


Search-and-rescue crews continue the search utilizing the Coast Guard Cutter William Flores, a Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 Dolphin, an Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry and a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., HC-130 alongside the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Aventura Police Department marine unit and the Miami-Dade Police Department underwater recovery unit .


Anyone with further information on the missing diver are asked to contact Coast Guard watchstanders at 305-415-6800.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Is he 39 or 48? Or is it a different person?

 

[oldschoolto]

I guess no one on the boat had a PADI rescue card.... His dive buddy should have saved him.... You should never go in the water solo... This is what can happen to you.... And had he taken that dive fin specialty course , he'd never had forgot his fins.....

Jim....

 

[yupito]

I went diving off Key Biscayne yesterday and was in the water around that time. There were winds, but waves were in the 3-4 range, and very little current. Poor viz though. I heard that perhaps alcohol may have been involved in this case.

 

[oldschoolto]

I went diving off Key Biscayne yesterday and was in the water around that time. There were winds, but waves were in the 3-4 range, and very little current. Poor viz though. I heard that perhaps alcohol may have been involved in this case.

NOW that would answer most of the questions

Jim....

 

[ambam]

Name released
Search continues for missing diver | News - Home

 

[DandyDon]

I was in Key Largo one April almost 10 years ago when we got blown out for days, so one Op organized a sight seeing & snorkeling boat for bayside. I went, and in my haste I stepped off without my fins. Felt pretty stupid. :blush:

This limited story as presented by news media just does not make sense, and I think it's a reasonable speculation that the missing diver might have made other mistakes. I could guess at possibilities...

Is he 39 or 48? Or is it a different person?

One news story stated both ages in the same article, so who knows his age, but just one person. Another died nearby when his boat overturned.