Cave diver critical after Blue Springs incident - Florida

[Cave Diver]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Synopsis Post

---

To prevent the repeated requests for details, I'm going to try and keep this post updated with facts as they become available.

Reported facts:

• Incident occurred @ ~1030 hours on Monday, November 18, 2013 at Jackson Blue Spring (Cave System), Marianna Florida
• 38 y/o male diver went into distress and became unresponsive during the dive. (Identity withheld)
• Dive buddy assisted him in exiting the water.
• Emergency personnel responded to the scene and transported victim to hospital.
• Victim currently in critical condition.

Current Speculation:

• Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE) - see links below for info on IPE

- http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/di...out-immersion-pulmonary-edema-you-should.html
- http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/395096-pulmonary-oedema-incident.html
- http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...eniseggs-incident-near-miss-jackson-blue.html
- http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...call;-glad-i-could-write-incident-report.html

 

[DandyDon]

Emergency responders called to help cave diver at Blue Springs - Jackson County Floridan : News

MARIANNA — It was a rainy scene Monday afternoon when emergency responders were called to the Blue Springs Recreation Area to assist a cave diver in need of medical attention. The 38-year-old diver is listed in critical condition after running into difficulties during under water.
According to officials with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, a pair of men, one from Chicago, the other from Minnesota, began a cave dive around 10:30 a.m. Monday morning. The two had been diving at the site for the past three days and are both believed to be experienced divers.
Approximately 50 minutes into Monday’s dive, the Chicago man signaled to his partner that he was in distress. His partner assisted him in getting out of the water, but the Chicago man became unresponsive on the way out. Upon reaching the surface, the distressed diver was having trouble breathing and appeared to be spitting up blood.
Also at the spring, for an unrelated reason, was area diver expert Edd Sorenson, owner of Cave Adventures, which checks in divers who set out to explore the thousands of feet of underwater caves located at the spring. A Monday afternoon call to the business yielded no additional information about the day’s incident.
An air ambulance helicopter traveled through the midday rain, landing in a grassy field near the water, to transport the man to a Tallahassee medical facility. JCSO reports that the diver was listed in critical condition and indicated that there was a possibility he would need to be moved to an Augusta, Ga., facility that has a decompression chamber.
The identity of the 38-year-old diver, who resides in Chicago but is originally from Czechoslovakia, is being withheld until his family is notified. JCSO also did not release the name of the Minnesota dive partner.

 

[letterboy]

Emergency responders called to help cave diver at Blue Springs - News - Jackson County Floridan

---------- Post added November 19th, 2013 at 10:54 AM ----------

[h=1]Emergency responders called to help cave diver at Blue Springs[/h]Chicago man listed in critical condition

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services2

Angie Cook / Jackson County Floridan | Updated 22 hours ago
MARIANNA — It was a rainy scene Monday afternoon when emergency responders were called to the Blue Springs Recreation Area to assist a cave diver in need of medical attention. The 38-year-old diver is listed in critical condition after running into difficulties during under water.

​

According to officials with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, a pair of men, one from Chicago, the other from Minnesota, began a cave dive around 10:30 a.m. Monday morning. The two had been diving at the site for the past three days and are both believed to be experienced divers.
Approximately 50 minutes into Monday’s dive, the Chicago man signaled to his partner that he was in distress. His partner assisted him in getting out of the water, but the Chicago man became unresponsive on the way out. Upon reaching the surface, the distressed diver was having trouble breathing and appeared to be spitting up blood.
Also at the spring, for an unrelated reason, was area diver expert Edd Sorenson, owner of Cave Adventures, which checks in divers who set out to explore the thousands of feet of underwater caves located at the spring. A Monday afternoon call to the business yielded no additional information about the day’s incident.
An air ambulance helicopter traveled through the midday rain, landing in a grassy field near the water, to transport the man to a Tallahassee medical facility. JCSO reports that the diver was listed in critical condition and indicated that there was a possibility he would need to be moved to an Augusta, Ga., facility that has a decompression chamber.
The identity of the 38-year-old diver, who resides in Chicago but is originally from Czechoslovakia, is being withheld until his family is notified. JCSO also did not release the name of the Minnesota dive partner.

---------- Post added November 19th, 2013 at 10:55 AM ----------

well, looks like it was a different link with the same article. . . .

 

[ScubaInChicago]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Synopsis Post

---

To prevent the repeated requests for details, I'm going to try and keep this post updated with facts as they become available.

THANK YOU, this is such a great idea and should be the second post in every A&I thread!

 

[clownfishsydney]

Sounds very much like immersion pulmonary edema.

 

[SeaCobra]

Could someone please explain how we have leapt to IPE?

 

[boulderjohn]

I am not sure about the IPE. He went from signalling he was not OK to shutting off his loop and trying to switch to bailout to unconscious in pretty rapid order. His buddy got him on his long hose immediately, but he really did not accept it--there was no clear purposeful breathing from it.

I was at the scene. I did not witness the actual event, but I was there for all the aftermath.

I am always frustrated while reading A & I threads when people do not tell all they know, but I am afraid that I will now be this person. I am really afraid to say too much until a final investigation is done. There is some ongoing investigation, and it would be too easy to leap to some unwarranted conclusions. I am gong to wait until more is known. I will provide what I feel is appropriate when I feel it is appropriate.

 

[victorzamora]

I wasn't there Monday, but I met the two divers in question on Sunday. Another forum already confirmed that they were on rebreathers. I believe they were both diving Gem Sidekicks modified for use as mCCR units, and they had been playing with their setup all day Sunday (trim, balance, etc). The uninjured buddy also had a rEvo out on Sunday, so I'm not sure if they both had multiple RB units or what the uninjured buddy was diving.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Both are EXTREMELY knowledgeable when it comes to diving and rebreathers. One is a well accomplished instructor on a wide variety of rebreathers and tech training and the other is also a very knowledgeable and experienced tech diver and rebreather diver. These guys are regularly in the caves, deep on the wrecks, and diving their equipment properly (not reckless).

The recovering diver is doing well, and hopefully will be coming home in a couple days. He was fortunate to have such an experienced dive buddy with him, or he would be dead.

Let's not speculate, more details will come out soon on what happened. For now, let's just be glad we did NOT lose a diver and praise the experience of his dive buddy!

 

[iluvtheocean]

very true -- even though rampant speculation is prevalent on the board here -- the most important thing is they are both still alive