Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[scubadada]

Yeah, take her to the surface; it's only another 5 ft. If I thought someone was in enough trouble that I needed to leave a group and bring her/him up, I would want to be able to do more than just give the OK sign. I've seen people with med problems so confused they didn't know what they were saying or doing. The OK sign is flashed so often on dives, it's almost a reflex rather than a communication. Get her to the surface and verbally communicate. Maybe she is OK; maybe she needs to get to a hospital.

Exactly

 

[GrandCODiver]

I do believe her higher self called out to me. I was diving the same profile as my group and for some reason I felt compelled to ascend to the top of the reef, which took me about 25 feet above the group. Unusual for me. I would not have seen her otherwise. When we got to her, I took a moment to assure her that it was ok, she could go on, we would make sure her body was taken care of.

Thank you, I will pass this on to her family and friends here in Colorado. It comforts me to know that her final call was answered by someone who could hold her hand and let her go home in peace Namaste...

 

[AmorForTheOcean]

We have just got back from Palancar where our boat assisted in the aftermath of a fatality. We assisted two divers who had found a dead female diver on the reef. Her power hose was disconnected and she appears to have got into trouble after using her air and surfacing alone

To you and anyone else involved, please fill out a DAN incident report. It is very helpful to the entire dive community to get as much as much first hand data logged- DAN: Incident Report

 

[AmorForTheOcean]

I was the diver who found this woman, and my husband and I tried to bring her to the surface and were not able to. We tried to reconnect her BC hose so we could inflate her, she had a half tank of air. At first I just saw a tank and rig. I thought maybe it had fallen from a boat. Then as I looked closer, being carried by current, my perspective changed and I saw what looked like legs. I looked around for other divers, her head was down like she was kneeling on the reef and I thought maybe the diver was looking at something and holding a breath. But after a minute of looking, I could see there were no bubbles. I was probably 100 feet away, I saw her and had her in my sights for at least the 3 minutes it took me to get my husbands attention and swim to her. In all that time there were no bubbles, and also no sign of a struggle. Her regulator was not in her mouth. We both inflated our BCs and tried to bring her up. We were at about 35-40 feet. My husband is a trained rescue diver, but we could not revive her. I was surprised that no officials wanted a statement from us. I reported what I could to Dan. The island does not like this kind of news to get out. It bothered me greatly that she was alone.

Thank you for reporting to DAN and I'm so sorry you went through that. It Is telling that the authorities didn't want your statetments. Wishing you all peace.

 

[Christi]

I would like to see what the marine park rules have to say on this.

There are very specific limitations on the number of divers that can be "supervised" by any single "guide". Are there specifications on what qualifications that the "guide" must have? I would hope that there is something. The Cayman Watersports association does.

To be certified as a PADI divemaster, you must demonstrate proficiency in rescue course exercise #7 which has to do with rescue breaths while towing the diver to the shore or boat. It is a worst case exercise. This would imply that there is some expectation of taking responsibility in this eventuality otherwise it would not be required for the certification.

In order to receive a marine park credential for the purpose of leading divers, one must be a certified Divemaster or higher through a recognized agency. Cozumel marine park regulations state that the ratio for Guides to certified divers is 6:1

I also want to add to my previous list of takeaways and general recommendations. I am not saying this has ANYTHING to do with the current incident, as I truly don't know if there were any pre-existing medical conditions. This is a general request.

Be completely honest on your diving application and release that you fill out with the dive shop. If you have any medical conditions they need to know about them. They cannot "save you from yourself' if you are not honest on your paperwork. It is a very selfish act not to disclose known medical conditions. When you do this you are subjecting fellow divers, the dive crew and anyone who is part of the rescue team to this trauma in the event that your medical issue results in a serious accident or worse, fatality.

 

[Christi]

The above quote implies that mstevens had first-hand knowledge or has been in contact with someone who has first-hand knowledge of the problems with the divers gear. I have no reason to doubt this so I make the following assumptions:

1) It sounds like this was the divers own personnel gear and not rental gear. As personal gear I have to assume she was familiar with it.
2) It sounds like a slow leak through the power inflator which could be a problem with the inflator or even possibly a 1st stage IP creep upwards which is actually a much bigger issue.
3) She felt comfortable enough with the situation to operate BC in manual inflation mode and that the inflation hose was disconnected prior to the dive. Which would mean that there was no equipment failure during the dive causing her to disconnect her inflator hose.

I truly do not think we have enough info to ever know what truely happened. Perhaps a post accident investigation will find other equipment issues or determine it a health issue.

Just a clarification - Tracy was not the victim - Mstevens is referring to his wife in his post as an example

 

[Ravenware]

Thank you, I will pass this on to her family and friends here in Colorado. It comforts me to know that her final call was answered by someone who could hold her hand and let her go home in peace Namaste...

I appreciate that. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for her family. If it offers any solace, there was no sign of struggle or disturbance around her, she looked peaceful.

 

[scubafanatic]

The first four years of my diving career I dove without a power inflator. It was how we were trained diving a horse collar BC, it is really not difficult if your weighted properly and practice it. Just like anything though if you don't polish your skills when the time comes to use them it can unravel fast. Who knows, this may turn out to be a non factor in this case .

I know, I know...back when men were men and all that......

 

[reddiver970]

I know, I know...back when men were men and all that......

Ha Ha ...All I ever thought was it was day one of any basic scuba class..

 

[DjDiverDan]

I check my tank valve open, check pressure, breathe from every air source, and inflate my BCD (even if I'm going to do a negative entry) before I prepare to exit the boat, or enter the water on a shore entry. It's been a habit for decades and it's never failed me.

Me too. I will NEVER jump off a boat without: (1) taking 2 breaths on my primary, (2) taking 2 breaths on my Octo, (3) inflating my BC, just a bit to make sure power inflater works, (4) double check pressure to know how much air I've got, and (5) checking weights, make sure that they're in secure, but can release easily. Then I go through a mental checklist - air on & working, check; weights on & releasable, check; mask snug, check; flippers on & straps snug, check; BC cinched up and no loose straps, buckles, etc. to get tangled on, check. Just like a pilot has his pre-flight checklist before heading down a runway, every diver ought to have a quick pre-dive check of everything essential to a safe and easy dive.