Death of British Tourist in Galapagos

[flots am]

I thought it was interesting that the article kept emphasizing fault on the part of the DM, but dismissed the fact that the diver's buddy had terminated the dive early and left her in the water by herself.

• If the buddy signalled that he was going up, the victim had a responsibility to surface with the buddy.
• If the buddy just vanished, the victim had a responsibility to perform the "lost buddy" procedure, which in OW is generally taught as: "Search for a minute, then surface."
• If the buddy vanished and the victim didn't notice it, then she didn't have sufficient situational awareness for the dive and shouldn't have been there.

From my perspective, unless the DM had teleporation and telepathy skills, the DM is irrlevant here.

flots.

 

[WaterBender]

My condolences to the Donna Newton's family...

I believe this tragic incident sets a good example. I am amazed to see that the more skillful divers become the more confident they feel under water to disregard simple basics. I see that every time I dive with advanced divers: They keep poking fish and disturbing underwater life; most divers take decongestants if they experience flu symptoms and instead of terminating the dive they continue; dive with regulators clearly leaking air; some even dive with a hangover... I guess sometimes our experience work against us: No matter how many dives an experienced diver has logged, they should be able to make the right call and ascend with their dive buddies. And for the dive buddy knowing your partner is vomiting underwater you certainly should not leave them behind.

It is extremely difficult to investigate underwater incidents as it was in Tina Watson and Shelly Tyre's cases. I hope more will come into light to further investigate this tragic incident.

 

[TSandM]

Waterbender, it's a good point. With familiarity comes contempt . . . It's all too easy to become complacent. I know I have done dives with minor leaks, for example, especially if I'm pretty familiar with the natural history of that kind of leak. I think a lot of people have dived when somewhat hung over, or not feeling 100%. Experience helps you evaluate risks to some degree, but may also cause you to minimize them.

I would seriously hope that this diver's buddy didn't leave her, knowing that she was vomiting. I would think more that it was something that came on after the buddy had ended the dive.

 

[Louie]

A Street scuba diver who drowned by the Galapagos Islands fought for her life, an expert said at her inquest.

Here is an article from a local UK paper with more detail - albeit written in a language for non-divers.

 

[Edward3c]

Remember the coroner is in the UK and would be applying British "Duty of Care" standards, disclaimers are worthless under UK law. If you provide a service you are responsible for the safety of those paying for it.

The exception is charter skippers who are providing a taxi service to/from a dive site. It is the dive organiser who is held to account if there is an incident.

Regards

Edward

 

[lavachickie]

Reading about these incidents is chilling, but something I began doing as soon as I hit ScubaBoard. Not to be macabre, but to learn. Even as a newer diver, I find myself taking risks (mostly out of compacency, not an urge to push the envelope). Reading these reminds me that it only takes once...

Thoughts and prayers to the family, and also to her cabin mate insta-buddy. Yes, she made a horrible mistake by surfacing and not informing her buddy, but from my limited experience with vacation hot spot dive charter instabuddies she didn't do anything that many (perhaps most?) vacation divers wouldn't have done. (Scary!) A lot of these problems revolve around the misconception by vacation divers that the DM is responsible for and intending to shephard the group.

Diver A was low on air and told to surface... so she does as she's told, thinking the DM will then take responsibility for her buddy, Diver #2.

Let's count the lessons.

1. Who is ultimately responsible for you? You. This comes down to every decision you make: where you dive, whether you dive, who you dive with, etc.

2. Don't hesitate to call a dive. A trip to Galapagos was probably a once in a lifetime thing. But it's not worth dying for. But let's be honest: too many people would have chosen to dive there anyway even if they were having problems of some sort.

3. Commit to being a good buddy when on a trip and insta-buddied up. OR, state the truth and say you prefer to dive solo if you won't accept the responsibilities. Yes, this may mean you'll sometimes be left doing all the work as not everyone will hold to the same standard, but isn't that better than the alternative? (I know I wouldn't want to be the person that has to live with the unanswered question of, "If I had just done one small thing differently, would that woman still be alive?")

4. It takes two to get separated. If your buddy disappears, you follow the protocol once you notice, and if they can't be located you surface, or you accept the risk and responsibility inherent in solo diving...not to mention pissing off and scaring the holy hell out of your buddy if they surface and... you don't. (Not such a deal in crystal clear water, but in bad viz like in the PNW... scary. The surfaced buddy is feeling pretty helpless.)

5. Unless you're paying a dive pro for their undivided attention with the implicit understanding that you are diving together, then they're just a tour guide. Period. (And even if they ARE your specified buddy, see #1). I could have died ten times over on my first trip to Cozumel and no one would have known for a while, despite my DM being "great" and knowing I was a newly certified diver (like... JUST finished cert the day before).

Who can add some more?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ering-diving/283566-who-responsible-what.html

My contribution to this discussion.

 

[Thalassamania]

The interesting quote from the article, at to me, is:

Dive master Fabricio Carbo described himself as the most experienced diver on the Galapagos Islands and said it was the first accident that had occurred on his watch in his 27 years of experience. One of the rules of the trip was no solo diving, meaning buddies must stay together at all times.

But a French couple on the boat, known only as Erik and Marie, made contact with Miss Newton's parents and criticised the master's use of mixing-and-matching dive buddies to suit circumstances and claimed he swam on to new sites without checking all his party was in tow.​

 

[drbill]

I Definitely feel like blame should be placed on the diver and Buddy more than the DM. Im sorry, but divers need to step up and accept responsibilty for themselves-

PULEASE... how can you expect divers to do something that most non-divers won't do, accept responsibility for their actions. Seriously, the unwillingness to accept responsibility for choices an individual makes of their own free will is quite disturbing to me.

In this case, unless there were pretty obvious signs of illness or dehydration, only the diver was capable of assessing their state of health. If she was truly sick underwater, she should never have continued the dive after her buddy surfaced.

Of course it is sad to see a diver due under any circumstances, but I agree (given what little I know about this incident) that the diver should bear the majority of the responsibility for not calling the dive.

In my diving career I have done many things that some would consider 'irresponsible." These include multiple dives to 200 ft solo on air. I have informed the dive boat I dove off as well as my family that I alone am responsible should something happen to me on these dives. I would not do them buddied up as I did not want the responsibility of another diver whose response to narcosis and emergencies was unknown to me.

 

[drbill]

I think a lot of people have dived when somewhat hung over, or not feeling 100%.

Of course we are speculating here about the possibility of alcohol consumption being a factor in this incident.

I am really shocked at the number of divers I know who do drink, some of them quite excessively, the night before diving. As a general rule, I do not drink the night before a dive. When I violate that, I limit myself to a single drink. My body is old and less forgiving than it was when I was twenty-something (and still followed that no drinking policy).

The one time I really violated this was with a beautiful Dutch dive master in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. We went out for "one drink" the night before a wreck dive... and ended up dancing on tables around the small village (and my being carried home by a British couple). The next day was probably the worst dive of my life (although I woke up on time and had to go to her place to wake her up at the request of the dive shop manager). Never again.