DameDykker
Guest
I can see that this accident was not posted here so far. I lifted this excelent English translation from DAR who has it from a rebreather forum - as stated. However, this correspont closely to the reports in Danish and German.
Always a sad thing......
With the death of Fred Evans in the South China
Sea and Rob Davie in the Red Sea, the following
makes three who have died on CCR's in April.
http://www.rebreatherworld.com/rebreather-accidents-incidents/4425-hemmoor-accident-report.html
Hemmoor Accident Report - 23rd April 2006, 15:13
I received a PM from Matthias Pfister (matt)
allowing me to post the translation of his
accident report that he posted on taucher.net.
Thanks for sharing the information and experience with us, Matthias.
If some of it sounds a bit wooden my apologies,
it's the translation rather then the original.
Report from Hemmoor
A group from the vicinity of Esbjerg arrived on
Easter Monday around 9:30 am. Four Inspiration
and one OC diver. All rebreathers were equipped
with ADVs, backplate and wings were used instead
of the stock harness, buoyancy gas (argon) for
drysuit separate, 7 liter alu OC bailout tanks
with additional LP hose for wing. Unfortunately filled with compressed air.
Shortly after arrival the first dive went
underway to a depth of about 55 meters, duration
about an hour, ended between 11:00 am and 11:30
am. After a short surface interval three of the
group decided to dive at Entry 3 from the Rüttler
to the apnea platform. All three on Inspirations.
The target depth was about 56 meters.
Shortly after leaving the wall, the deceased
experienced a stress situation. His physical size
was about 190 cm in my estimate, the counterlungs
of his loop were sized M - due to the small
volume of the counterlungs and the increased RMV
the ADV opened on every inhalation and the rest
of the diluent gas was depleted. The diver
switched to OC, the full 7 liter stage, which was
also very quickly depleted. Both dive buddies
tried to calm him and passed another 7 liter
stage and started to ascend together. During
ascent the three divers got separated, but all
reached the surface. Two of the divers ditched
their units on the surface, why remains unclear.
In the end the cause of death was the battery
cable of the canister light, connected to the
lamp head at the diver's forearm. The deceased
failed to remove the lamp head from his forearm
first and was dragged down by his gear.
Below my personal experiences, told as I
experienced them. Anyone who doesn't want to deal
with the recovery of a corpse should not read further.
Divers of the Hamburg Fire Department were called
in and did a better than good job in my opinion,
the guys had their mission and had to do it with
the means available to them. In addition the
operation leader requested a ROV to search the
quarry bed, didn't do any good other than reduce the visibility.
A group of FD divers located one of the dropped
rigs, and with information from the divers I
marked the unit with reel and lift bag. The
further search for the missing diver was without
success due to zero visibility. After 45 min of
bottom time a traversing line was laid to the
steep stairs and the dive concluded.
During this time the German Red Cross team from
Hannover arrived. The area around the marker was
searched with dogs trained to locate human
remains. According to the dog handlers the dogs
did respond, but they were unable to pinpoint a
location. Later, the area was searched by sonar,
after evaluating the images 3 three possible
locations of the body were pinpointed. Those
areas were searched with another ROV throughout
the night, ending unsuccessfully around 5 am.
On Wednesday morning a further search was
conducted on trimix, but due to bad visibility
also unsuccessful. After further discussions it
became obvious that only a search by feeling
along the bed would be successful. For recovery
divers surely easier due to experience, but a 55
meters with zero visibility a shock to me at
first. Later in the afternoon the search was
officially stopped and the press and camera people were striking the sails.
Around 16:30 hours the boat was loaded and the
dive started around 17:40 hours. The hope that
the visibility was better after that period and
the corpse could be spotted remained wishful
thinking. The marked unit with the white pole
could only be seen from a meter's distance. I
didn't want to perform a search by feeling, I was
unable to do that, and a meter could be enough
after all. With a spool with marker knots every 2
meters I started my search eastbound, towards the
sonar marking that had the same signature as the
discovered rig. I didn't want to believe this, as
that unit was lying with the backplate facing up
in the mud. Couldn't imagine that the corpse
wouldn't change the signature, hoped that the
diver would be facing down and the yellow lid and the stage be visible.
After a few minutes I found a different scene,
the stage was pointing upwards, nothing else
visible, my breathing quickening and my heart
beat pounding inside my body. At first I wanted
to turn the dive, the TX with 50% He was not of
any help in this situation. After a couple of
careful fin strokes could make out the fins of
the deceased and the unit lying next to him. I
didn't expect that as nobody had mentioned that
he too had ditched his gear. The emergency doctor
in charge had given me the advice to secure the
corps around its ankle so I thought at that
moment you don't have to see him, you can do that.
I could see light wrist band on the right arm,
computer I thought at first, but it was the lamp
head, the spiral cable went under the body to the
unit. Right then I realized the tragedy that
happened to the man, everything disconnected,
gear ditched and he was pulled to depth by it, no
chance of removing the lamp head, and the spiral cable extended - no chance.
The attempt to disconnect the cable at the
battery failed, so there was no other option than
to remove it from him, the first contact was
hard, after I removed the lamp it became more
routine (please don't misunderstand me or consider me impious).
Around 18:00 hours the recovery was over and I
ended the dive with my thoughts on accident. At
Entry 1 the two friends of the victims and the
deceased were waiting, they had just returned
from the hospital, one is still in an
artificially induced coma, he additionally
developed pneumonia. The other one is recovering
and reported the accident as described on top.
Both were relieved that their friend had been recovered and thanked me quietly.
Unfortunately the accident showed again that air
as a deep gas is not adequate, 2 x 7 liter
bailout in combination with stress or panic
doesn't last long, not even talking about the 3
liter diluent of the rebreather (2nd dive - not
refilled). Sufficient sleep before demanding is
surely not a bad idea, also one could think about
having to do two deep dives in one day. The own
gear configuration is to be re-evaluated, maybe
take one course or another and keep on training regularly what is learned.
Unfortunately this accident again won't help the
majority, only a few involved will learn from,
many will go back to the status quo and the
'greed is cool' mentality and sometime down the
line someone will have to experience what I'm just trying to deal with.
Today we will try to recover the two units and a
missing dive computer, the visibility here at
Hemmoor is still bad thanks to the ROVs, I hope
it will work. Entry 3 will be closed until the recovery.
Good night
Matthias Pfister
Always a sad thing......
With the death of Fred Evans in the South China
Sea and Rob Davie in the Red Sea, the following
makes three who have died on CCR's in April.
http://www.rebreatherworld.com/rebreather-accidents-incidents/4425-hemmoor-accident-report.html
Hemmoor Accident Report - 23rd April 2006, 15:13
I received a PM from Matthias Pfister (matt)
allowing me to post the translation of his
accident report that he posted on taucher.net.
Thanks for sharing the information and experience with us, Matthias.
If some of it sounds a bit wooden my apologies,
it's the translation rather then the original.
Report from Hemmoor
A group from the vicinity of Esbjerg arrived on
Easter Monday around 9:30 am. Four Inspiration
and one OC diver. All rebreathers were equipped
with ADVs, backplate and wings were used instead
of the stock harness, buoyancy gas (argon) for
drysuit separate, 7 liter alu OC bailout tanks
with additional LP hose for wing. Unfortunately filled with compressed air.
Shortly after arrival the first dive went
underway to a depth of about 55 meters, duration
about an hour, ended between 11:00 am and 11:30
am. After a short surface interval three of the
group decided to dive at Entry 3 from the Rüttler
to the apnea platform. All three on Inspirations.
The target depth was about 56 meters.
Shortly after leaving the wall, the deceased
experienced a stress situation. His physical size
was about 190 cm in my estimate, the counterlungs
of his loop were sized M - due to the small
volume of the counterlungs and the increased RMV
the ADV opened on every inhalation and the rest
of the diluent gas was depleted. The diver
switched to OC, the full 7 liter stage, which was
also very quickly depleted. Both dive buddies
tried to calm him and passed another 7 liter
stage and started to ascend together. During
ascent the three divers got separated, but all
reached the surface. Two of the divers ditched
their units on the surface, why remains unclear.
In the end the cause of death was the battery
cable of the canister light, connected to the
lamp head at the diver's forearm. The deceased
failed to remove the lamp head from his forearm
first and was dragged down by his gear.
Below my personal experiences, told as I
experienced them. Anyone who doesn't want to deal
with the recovery of a corpse should not read further.
Divers of the Hamburg Fire Department were called
in and did a better than good job in my opinion,
the guys had their mission and had to do it with
the means available to them. In addition the
operation leader requested a ROV to search the
quarry bed, didn't do any good other than reduce the visibility.
A group of FD divers located one of the dropped
rigs, and with information from the divers I
marked the unit with reel and lift bag. The
further search for the missing diver was without
success due to zero visibility. After 45 min of
bottom time a traversing line was laid to the
steep stairs and the dive concluded.
During this time the German Red Cross team from
Hannover arrived. The area around the marker was
searched with dogs trained to locate human
remains. According to the dog handlers the dogs
did respond, but they were unable to pinpoint a
location. Later, the area was searched by sonar,
after evaluating the images 3 three possible
locations of the body were pinpointed. Those
areas were searched with another ROV throughout
the night, ending unsuccessfully around 5 am.
On Wednesday morning a further search was
conducted on trimix, but due to bad visibility
also unsuccessful. After further discussions it
became obvious that only a search by feeling
along the bed would be successful. For recovery
divers surely easier due to experience, but a 55
meters with zero visibility a shock to me at
first. Later in the afternoon the search was
officially stopped and the press and camera people were striking the sails.
Around 16:30 hours the boat was loaded and the
dive started around 17:40 hours. The hope that
the visibility was better after that period and
the corpse could be spotted remained wishful
thinking. The marked unit with the white pole
could only be seen from a meter's distance. I
didn't want to perform a search by feeling, I was
unable to do that, and a meter could be enough
after all. With a spool with marker knots every 2
meters I started my search eastbound, towards the
sonar marking that had the same signature as the
discovered rig. I didn't want to believe this, as
that unit was lying with the backplate facing up
in the mud. Couldn't imagine that the corpse
wouldn't change the signature, hoped that the
diver would be facing down and the yellow lid and the stage be visible.
After a few minutes I found a different scene,
the stage was pointing upwards, nothing else
visible, my breathing quickening and my heart
beat pounding inside my body. At first I wanted
to turn the dive, the TX with 50% He was not of
any help in this situation. After a couple of
careful fin strokes could make out the fins of
the deceased and the unit lying next to him. I
didn't expect that as nobody had mentioned that
he too had ditched his gear. The emergency doctor
in charge had given me the advice to secure the
corps around its ankle so I thought at that
moment you don't have to see him, you can do that.
I could see light wrist band on the right arm,
computer I thought at first, but it was the lamp
head, the spiral cable went under the body to the
unit. Right then I realized the tragedy that
happened to the man, everything disconnected,
gear ditched and he was pulled to depth by it, no
chance of removing the lamp head, and the spiral cable extended - no chance.
The attempt to disconnect the cable at the
battery failed, so there was no other option than
to remove it from him, the first contact was
hard, after I removed the lamp it became more
routine (please don't misunderstand me or consider me impious).
Around 18:00 hours the recovery was over and I
ended the dive with my thoughts on accident. At
Entry 1 the two friends of the victims and the
deceased were waiting, they had just returned
from the hospital, one is still in an
artificially induced coma, he additionally
developed pneumonia. The other one is recovering
and reported the accident as described on top.
Both were relieved that their friend had been recovered and thanked me quietly.
Unfortunately the accident showed again that air
as a deep gas is not adequate, 2 x 7 liter
bailout in combination with stress or panic
doesn't last long, not even talking about the 3
liter diluent of the rebreather (2nd dive - not
refilled). Sufficient sleep before demanding is
surely not a bad idea, also one could think about
having to do two deep dives in one day. The own
gear configuration is to be re-evaluated, maybe
take one course or another and keep on training regularly what is learned.
Unfortunately this accident again won't help the
majority, only a few involved will learn from,
many will go back to the status quo and the
'greed is cool' mentality and sometime down the
line someone will have to experience what I'm just trying to deal with.
Today we will try to recover the two units and a
missing dive computer, the visibility here at
Hemmoor is still bad thanks to the ROVs, I hope
it will work. Entry 3 will be closed until the recovery.
Good night
Matthias Pfister
