Re: Cozumel Fatality Cocodrillo
Report on accident at Sisteme Cocodrilo
by Michael Angelo Gagliardi
Cave Diver's Forum - Cave Diving Resource
Rebreather Pro: Report on Mexico Rebreather Fatality
I am writing this today as a chosen representative of the
Cocodrilo/Dos Coronas Exploration and Mapping Expedition. On Sun
October 16 we had a member of our team (Brendan Lee Nappier) die
during a survey dive in the Sisteme Cocodrilo System on the island of
Cozumel. The team has asked me to post this report to prevent and
dispel any misinformation or misconceptions of this tragic accident.
The team is understandably distraught about the loss of our good
friend. I will use no names in this report other then the victim's.
The Expedition was to survey, map and document the Sisteme Cocodrilo
cave system. Sisteme Cocodrilo is a land locked system that contains
several thousand feet of passage most never getting deeper than 40
feet. The Cocodrilo team arrive onsite at approximately 10 am and
began gearing up in the parking lot of the dive site. The team
consisted of 5 divers. The dive plan was to swim to the "Air Dome "
approximately 4200 feet into the cave and video map the room. The
plan was cut very short.
Two divers were using Passive Semi-closed Rebreathers driven by two
Al 80's. One Al 80 had 32% nitrox while the other contained air. The
32% drove the rebreathers while the air was bail out. The other 3
divers were on open circuit side mount. Each open circuit diver
carried an addition stage. All open circuit tanks contained air. The
day before the dive 3 more 80 cubic foot tanks containing air were
staged along the dive route. These were placed as additional
emergency bailouts bottles.
At 11:19 am the team entered the water. The victim led the team. The
team planned on a slow paced swim. At about 15 minutes in to the dive
the victim began to accelerate his swim pace causing the team to
string out into two groups, two divers in front trying to kept pace
with the leader, followed by the second pair falling behind. At
approximately two minutes later, the victim had outpaced the second
and third diver and began convulsing, he then drifted to the ceiling.
When the two closest buddies got to him he was unconscious and his
regulators were out of his mouth. The victim's bailout regulator was
observed to be deployed and dangling. His Rebreather loop and his
bailout tank had been closed, however neither buddy saw when he
closed it. Both buddies, each, deployed and attempted to get a
regulator in the victim's mouth. The victim's jaw was clenched and
had to be pried open to insert the regulator. The regulator was
purged into his mouth. By this point all 5 members had got to the
victim and began a coordinated rescue attempt. Three divers began
swimming the victim out of the system while also keeping the
regulator in his mouth and purging it. The last team member kept the
line out well lit and guided the team out of the system. It took
approximately 18 minutes to get the victim to the surface. His gear
and suit was cut away and CPR was administered in round robin by
three team members. The last member called for help and got people on
the surface to call for EMTs. After about 20 minutes an ambulance and
local police arrived and took control of the body.
An autopsy was performed and the team was informed by local officials
that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. Both Brandon's
rebreather and one other teammate's rebreather were found to be in
working order. We, the team have now been led to believe (but we have
no way of verifying ) that this is not the first case of "bad" nitrox
fills on the island. We have halted all diving till we can be certain
of what we are breathing. We also urge anyone going on any similar
expedition to please add a carbon monoxide analyzer to their dive
kit. We all are buying one now. We all are emotional, stressed, and
angry by Brendon's passing. We ask out of respect for the victim and
his family, to please refrain from any online speculation or comments
that might cause additional stress. Brendon was young, intelligent
and in shape, he did nothing wrong nor was any rules broken. There is
no good reason why Brendon was taken from us. He died because he had
the misfortune of breathing "bad" air. Brendon was our friend and he
was taken from us too soon.
Thank you
Michael Angelo Gagliardi
Very nice article with regard to compressors. Was there a point to the tone of your post to me? Not much there for the consumer.
