I was just about to submit a post on this incident, so I'll just add it to this thread instead to avoid multiple posts on the same subject...
I just learned of this a few hours ago from a friend who works at the dive shop owned by the instructor involved in the incident. I used to assist classes at this shop as a Dive Master, but parted ways with the instructor several years ago.
Additional "facts", as they've been relayed to me, are as follows:
The instructor was conducting an Open Water class with two students, a husband and wife, on Saturday, Dec 13th 2010. The article states two instructors, but to the best of my knowledge, it was the instructor and a single dive master.
When the group was at the shop in the morning picking up gear, the instructor reported to my friend (also a Dive Master, but not the one involved in the incident), that he had received a "Special Dispensation" from NAUI, the certifying agency, to conduct the class in a single dive, at that location, despite the maximum depth being roughly 14 to 15 feet.
Both students were physically fit, in good health and were wearing wet suits during the dive. The instructor always wore a dry suit, I'm not sure what the DM was wearing.
From the article, apparently the instructor signaled to end the dive, the students acknowledged and they began to surface. On ascent, the victim became separated from the group. When everyone surfaced, the victim was reportedly observed swimming towards shore, but by the time the instructor reached him, he was face down in the water and not moving. Rescue breaths were administered while he was being towed to shore. On shore, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
I'm not trying to throw mud, but I personally observed this instructor's habit of cutting corners and bending rules on numerous occasions, and it was one of the primary reasons I stopped assisting with his classes. Obviously responsibility will likely be decided in court, but, and this is admitedly speculation on my part, this appears to be a case where cutting corners lead to tragic results.
Key questions:
1- Why was this class conducted in this location - a relatively shallow river with limited visibility and known currents? Virtually all other Open Water classes at the shop were conducted at a popular quarry just 1 hour away (from this location) in Pennsylvania (Dutch Springs), and other, even closer locations exist which would be more appropriate to teach an Open Water class.
2- What was the justification for conducting an Open Water class in a single dive, and how was that even possible? I admittedly don't know NAUI's standards, but PADI requires a minimum of 4 dives.
3- How does a PADI and NAUI Course Director, with Technical instructor experience, over 5000 dives and several hundred student certifications, with the help of a Dive Master, fail to maintain a group of two students? A husband and wife, no less, who will naturally want to stay together.
4- Assuming (and I'm speculating) the necessity to get certified in December, in the North East, was because the couple had a vacation planned, why wasn't a standard referral given so they could have completed their training in better conditions?
While this could be a tragic case of a diver panicking or suffering from some unknown health-related issue, it's hard to see how the conditions didn't exacerbate the situation. I can only hope the tragic loss of such a young individual leads to some improvement in train standards, be that on the part of certifying agencies apparently willing to bend their own rules, or instructors seeking the bending of rules for primarily reasons of convenience and/or profit.
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