Cozumel Incident

[Scott]

Anyone heard news about the death of a 40 year old female while diving in Coz within the last week?

The following is all third hand so I cannot validate the accuracy.

Apparently she was diving with a group that was attending a medical conference on the island. A diver with the group either noticed the problem or found her on the bottom and brought her up. Upon surfacing she was blue in the face and all attempts to revive her failed.

 

[polyester1970]

I was also staying at the same hotel when it happened and heard about it. I asked a hotel staff that works the activity desk. She confirmed it happened, wasn't positive about the details but heard that the lady surfaced OK, regurgitated and that somehow caused problems. It didn't sound quite right to me so I also came here looking for more details. I suppose you can't expect them to be completely forthcoming about a diver death under the watch of their inhouse dive shop. Then my friend who was also staying at the same hotel heard that the lady had a phony c-card, wasn't trained/never dove, jumped in without her BCD inflated and no reg in her mouth. That also seemed a bit unbelievable and overly-dramatic - so not sure if there's any truth to that either.

There was a convention at the hotel ironically related to dive medicine and safety I heard. I looked up the group and it's not a Scuba Diving group but a medical group, so they may or may not be divers - my impression was they were people in the medical field studying dive related medicine. They all dove with the hotel's inhouse dive shop. I didn't dive with them, but I remember the morning of the incident while standing on the other pier (The Hotel makes 3rd party operators use a different pier) there was a HUGE group diving with The Inhouse Dive Op and I remember thinking, "now that is a cattle boat." I noticed at least 3-4 boats and it looked like there was at least 40 divers, with a big group still waiting to be picked up after we left.

The STICKY says not to mention names, I know that at least means the diver in question's name (which I don't know anyway), but does that also mean I can't talk about the hotel or dive op? It seems like SB'ers have a right to know.

 

[DandyDon]

The STICKY says not to mention names, I know that at least means the diver in question's name (which I don't know anyway), but does that also mean I can't talk about the hotel or dive op? It seems like SB'ers have a right to know.

I'm pretty sure that refers to the injured diver's name. I see why you are wondering as it is not totally clear, but that's always been my understanding since the policy was changed from no names ever.

Does not sound like you have much in the way of factual info as compared to the rumors you heard...??

 

[polyester1970]

No, sorry I don't. I was hesitant about spreading rumours, but hopefully I was clear enough about that so people don't take it as fact. Just relaying what I heard from the hotel staff and one of the divers in their group.

So the group that was visiting was called the WMS. I saw it written on a whiteboard in the meeting room. I looked it up and it appears to be the WMS.org which also mentioned the conference on Cozumel on their homepage.

It was the Intercontinental Presidente hotel and the inhouse dive op was ScubaDu.

 

[DandyDon]

I don't mean to criticize you for telling what you'd heard; just clarifying that for any who may read over this thread casually. Still, that is often where one starts in seeking real facts. It does seem that Wilderness Medical Society had a conference in Cozumel this past week. I don't see any other news anywhere tho?

 

[Rescue Diver68]

I know someone who was planning to attend this conference and dive. I'll email her and perhaps she will know details when she returns.

 

[riftvalley84]

According to their website on the conference, participants could be certified while they were there so maybe she was in the process of being certified:
Wilderness Medical Society
http://www.wms.org/conferences/cozumel09/schedule.asp

 

[mhegenbarth]

I knew this diver very well as she was a long time friend and colleague. While I cannot speak to her official diving credentials I know that she was a long-time diver since a young age; she was a compulsive and careful physician unlikely to "fake" a c-card etc. For those of us grieving for her and trying to make sense of what happened it would be more helpful to have real details and I hope they will be forthcoming.

 

[Teamcasa]

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[Scott]

Updated information.
She had been certified a week prior to the trip and was on one of two boats that polyester1970 mentioned.
During the dive she runs low on air and signals the DM and they conduct an AAS ascent without incident.
On the surface they meet up with another couple that had surfaced just prior and the DM leaves the diver with them and returns to the group below.
While waiting for the boat, at some point she removes the regulator and a waves hits her head on and she aspirates water. Unable to breathe there is a call for help.
Boat arrives and they try to get her on board, but due to her size she falls back in the water. More help is on hand and when she is on board rescue breaths and CPR are administered until they are at the dock and with EMS.
During the briefing divers were told that due to surface conditions they were to leave their mask and regulator in place.
polyester1970 maybe can confirm surface condtions and that their boat may have had a similar briefing.