Tourist dies while diving on Ambergris Caye

[ThatDogDontHunt]

But how automatic has the OK hand signal become?

It bothers me that divers get left at an SS, and then appear next as a floating body.

Agreed. In the last few years there seems to have been a bunch of "group diver left alone at safety stop" to be later become missing and eventually found dead (often on the bottom?).

The obvious first question is "where is their buddy?".

I believe there are a few threads about when a vacation diver does a group dive no one really has a buddy...

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

The obvious first question is "where is their buddy?".

My question would be - Who trained them and why did they think they were capable of this dive? If you can not make it from a safety stop to the surface even after a 10 year layoff - you are at fault, not your buddy and not the dive boat...

But hey - that is just the way I think.

RIP

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Yeah. What kind of idiot goes and has a heart attack/stroke... that’s just bad planning.....you should wait until you are back on the dock to stroke out..

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

My question would be - Who trained them and why did they think they were capable of this dive? ...

This dive? Not sure what you mean by that. Seems like it was a high viz warm water dive with no current. No indication of difficult conditions. Seems like a pretty easy dive. OW Nirvana?

Which makes the death that much harder to deal with. Did they make a mistake? Did they heart attack?

A dive buddy may not have been able to save them. But maybe they could shed some light on why this person died...

 

[aviator8]

My first thought on reading this was, where was his buddy? If he called the dive and went up his buddy should be up with him. Even in the event of a medical issue the buddy may have been able to get him to the surface where he at least stood a chance. I feel for his family.

 

[Joneill]

My question would be - Who trained them and why did they think they were capable of this dive? If you can not make it from a safety stop to the surface even after a 10 year layoff - you are at fault, not your buddy and not the dive boat...

But hey - that is just the way I think.

RIP

Flawed thinking, in my opinion - as other posters have pointed out!

Seemingly simple issues could prevent surfacing for a low-on-air diver and be deadly at a SS - let alone a medical event. A buddy being present could very possibly save your life in many situations.

 

[Altamira]

I have come up early on occasion with a buddy who called the dive because of low air, and I personally would never leave a buddy until the diver was safely on the boat. In the event of a medical emergency, while you might not be able to save your buddy, at least you are there to try. I can't imagine how the DM must feel knowing the extra couple of minutes that it would have taken to get the diver safely on board, might have been the difference. Also, doing a safety stop with the conditions described was probably not a good choice. I have never come up low on air, but if it ever happens to me, a safety stop is not going to be a player unless it is for a deco obligation, and then it is not a safety stop.

 

[pepperbelly]

A few years ago I had a problem on a cruise dive excursion. I started heaving at 50’ due to a reg breathing wet. I couldn’t stop so I signaled the DM that I had to surface. He sent up a SMB and stayed with me to the surface. He made sure I was OK and made sure the boat was coming and asked if I was OK and if I was good with him
going back down with the other other divers.
Leaving a diver with a problem before the surface just isn’t right.

 

[DandyDon]

What could have possibly happened at that point to result in him going from being ok at 15' to lifeless on the bottom?

Lots of possibilities more likely than a medical event I think. Maybe his Spg was wrong when he signaled ok, or he was confused with rental gear, then he ran out of air, was overweight to swim up, panicked so didn't drop weights, then drowned? Just a guess.

Maybe he surfaced unseen by the boat, failed to inflate BC, dropped his reg from his mouth with a desire to breath open air, got splashed by a wave, choked, panicked, failed to drop weights, and drowned.

Or since he's over age 18, it could have been a stroke or heart attack - sure. Just not as likely.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

I’ve read that people near panic will often times give the ok sign out of habit, which means we can’t make the assumption he was truly ok. Given that, @DandyDon has some very good theories, although I worry about stroke or heart attack at 57, so I would definitely leave it on the table for a 66 year old.