Coast Guard crews search for missing diver off of Key Biscayne

[Pedro Burrito]

Coast Guard crews search for missing diver off of Key Biscayne


MIAMI – Coast Guard crews are searching for a missing 48-year-old male diver three-miles off of Key Biscayne, Fla.


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.


A Coast Guard 33-foot rescue boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Fla., and a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami were immediately launched to search for the possible missing diver. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Miami-Dade Marine Patrol, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Air Rescue are also assisting in the search.


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


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

 

[peterbj7]

Weird. Why didn't the dive boat simply go to him while he was still on the surface? Something's wrong here.

 

[cb5150]

Weird. Why didn't the dive boat simply go to him while he was still on the surface? Something's wrong here.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Ayisha]

Or throw him a life ring? Have a crew member drift with him until the boat could get to them? Have all eyes on deck watching him?

 

[tc]

Maybe they were anchored (safe assumption since the diver drifted away), maybe they had other divers in the water and didn't want to abandon them, maybe they had divers doing deco on he anchor line and couldn't pull it.

Maybe they didn't need to throw a life ring since the report states that he had a personal flotation device. Maybe they did keep all eyes on him till he drifted out of sight.

Maybe a short initial news report doesn't contain enough information to make assumptions or begin speculation on something being wrong with the crews handling of the incident.

But of course maybe I'm wrong and the folks speculating on zero facts are right.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Maybe the diver forgot to put his fins on, forgot to turn his tank on and read on scubaboard that there is no need to have ditchable lead and went straight to the bottom..

 

[cb5150]

Maybe they were anchored (safe assumption since the diver drifted away), maybe they had other divers in the water and didn't want to abandon them, maybe they had divers doing deco on he anchor line and couldn't pull it.

Maybe they didn't need to throw a life ring since the report states that he had a personal flotation device. Maybe they did keep all eyes on him till he drifted out of sight.

Maybe a short initial news report doesn't contain enough information to make assumptions or begin speculation on something being wrong with the crews handling of the incident.

But of course maybe I'm wrong and the folks speculating on zero facts are right.

Get defensive much? One poster simply said something doesn't sound right with the report, I agreed and the next poster offered possible scenarios on what could have been the response. Would you have preferred that no one participate in an internet message board discussion?

 

[tc]

Get defensive much? One poster simply said something doesn't sound right with the report, I agreed and the next poster offered possible scenarios on what could have been the response. Would you have preferred that no one participate in an internet message board discussion?

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.

 

[DandyDon]

Weird. Why didn't the dive boat simply go to him while he was still on the surface? Something's wrong here.

Some news stories reported rough waters and boats out that really shouldn't have been. Another boat capsized, killing the captain, and there were rumors of not having enough life jackets - if anyone was wearing one?

This one says his friends tried to help the missing diver. Excerpting from Coast Guard Crews Search For Missing Key Biscayne Diver « CBS Miami

When he began to drift away from the boat, his friends jumped into the water after him to help. The too began to struggle in the rough water and the person driving the boat turned around to pick them up. That is when the group realized that one person was still missing, according to Coast Guard.

 

[DennisS]

It doesn't take long to lose sight of someone in any kind of seas. When we did man overboard drills on a ship we would have 10 people on the bridge, 33 feet above the water, all pointing at the dummy with an orange life jacket. There would be a roll or a change of heading doing the Williamson turn and 10 people would lose sight of the dummy. The first person would pick up a visual and everyone else would be, where?, where? Soon almost everyone would be back to pointing except for a few, where?, I still don't see it. It's easy to lose sight of someone in the water

Last news report I heard was they were looking for him off of Haulover