Diver Death in Cuba

[Ayisha]

Does anyone know anything about this accident?

TheSpec - David Italiano remembered as

David Italiano remembered as ‘such a loving person'
Friends were scuba diving off Cuba

David Italiano David Italiani died in a scuba diving mishap in Cuba.
Special to the Spectator

David Italiano was having a blast in Cuba with five close high school buddies.
The group of men in their 20s were celebrating the last trip they would all take together before one friend, Andrew Oliveros, left to spend time with his father who lives in Mexico.
The day before they were to return from the week-long break, the group decided to go scuba diving. They had taken lessons and all went well. But when they went out for the real deal on June 12, something went horribly wrong.
According to Italiano's father, Nunzio, five of the friends went scuba diving on that Tuesday. They made one successful trip, and that was enough for two of them.
But 24-year-old Italiano and two other friends wanted to go again.
When he was submerged the second time, Italiano motioned to his instructor that something wasn't sitting well with his stomach and then hoisted a thumb, to indicate he was returning to the surface.
“His friend that was nearby said he seemed to be conscious when he was coming up,” said his father. “But when he hit the surface his head just went back under.”
Italiano lost consciousness and died of a gas or air embolism between 5 and 6 p.m. Gas embolisms occur when gas bubbles enter the bloodstream during ascent to the surface, blocking circulation.
Italiano's father grew up in Hamilton and attended McMaster University, before he moved to Toronto and met his wife Carolyn.
He has three sisters who still call Hamilton home, Angela, Josephine and Maria Italiano. And two sister-in-laws Pasqualina and Gizelle.
In an interview Friday, Gizelle Italiano said the family has already experienced its share of grief. Her husband Nino died in 2003 and then they lost his brother, Joseph, a month later.
She said they saw their nephew mostly during family functions.
“He was a very shy boy, but a loving boy. He's left a large hole in our family.
“He will be greatly missed.”
Italiano worked as a bartender in Toronto and wanted to attend Trent University, his father said he was interested in studying the environment and forestry.
His father describes his youngest son as a loving person who couldn't get enough of nature and animals. He was considered the “go-to guy” whenever an injured animal would show up in their Toronto neighbourhood. He was a volunteer with Greenpeace and also a vegan.

 

[Hatul]

No, but before I got formally certified I dove in Cuba. One of those single day courses with a session in the pool and then off a boat.

On the boat the crew told us to not worry about anything, as they would take care of everything. I jumped in the water and could get no air-- they forgot to turn on my valve.

 

[Agnis]

Would love to know! I had planned to go on a diving holiday in Cuba, travelling on my own, and since then I have heard so many bad testemonials! Dives led by cowboys and so on....It seems nothing has changed. You can find threads on this forum were some time ago divemasters have led dives to non qualified divers up to 20 meters +, where the divers have actually injured themselves! Now it seems Cuba is allowing the same divemasters/instructors opening their own diving centers. In my opinion, its asking for disaster.....

 

[beaverdivers]

It doesn't sound like an air embolism. Did he hold his breath and ascend rapidly? The report has no indication.

Did he get sick, vomit & swallow his vomit? Was he hung-over? It sounds like they were partying the night before.

Is this the operators fault?

Aren't there good operations in Cuba?

 

[feb77]

Does anyone know anything about this accident?

TheSpec - David Italiano remembered as

David was my brother-in-law.

I was told he went down (don't know how far) and then came back up fine - no problem. He and his friends went back down a 2nd time and when they were down there he did the signal for "trouble" and pointed at his stomach. The instructor signaled they would all ascend and Dave swam up but just before he got to the surface he went unconscious. The autopsy has shown it was an embolism. But from my research I'm starting to find that Cuba has a reputation for this happening. Infact, they have 1 case like this every month.

Please feel free to email me - feb77@rogers.com if you have any useful information.

Our family is devastated.

Regards,

Liz
www.daviditaliano.com

---------- Post Merged at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:40 PM ----------

It doesn't sound like an air embolism. Did he hold his breath and ascend rapidly? The report has no indication.

Did he get sick, vomit & swallow his vomit? Was he hung-over? It sounds like they were partying the night before.

Is this the operators fault?

Aren't there good operations in Cuba?

No, he was not hung over and they didn't drink the night before. They went out for dinner and wanted to be totally sober for their first real dive. He did not vomit. We have no idea who is at fault but I keep hearing negative reviews about scuba diving in Cuba by experienced divers.

 

[Ayisha]

Hello Liz,

I am very sorry for your loss and the unanswered questions that you have. I am a Safety Consultant with the Ontario Underwater Council and we have begun our investigation into David's death. As I'm sure you're finding out, it is very difficult to get information and cooperation from other countries, and it is a slow process. Our resources are very limited for accidents outside of our province, but we will try to assist in getting some answers. I will contact you if that is ok and anything you can tell me will help.

If anyone else knows of anything specifically in regard to this accident, please PM me. Thanks.

 

[heavierthanlead]

Liz, sorry for your family's loss...

But... negative "reviews"? Reputations? On the contrary, I've heard numerous positive ones. Consider the islands immediately surrounding Cuba... FL Keys, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, Cozumel, Cayman Islands. Smack in the middle of prime warm, tropical, clear ocean. Though I've never been, I can't possibly imagine the diving there to be anything short of superlative. Vacationing divers heading there should not expect anyone to be "responsible" for them, any more so than anywhere else. If one is properly trained to be a confident, relaxed, self-sufficient diver, the locale and/or assigned supervisory oversight should not have any influence on their ability to assess and dive/not dive it. I might be a bit concerned about the local EMS infrastructure, but there's nothing different or ominous about the water there...

 

[feb77]

Liz, sorry for your family's loss...

But... negative "reviews"? Reputations? On the contrary, I've heard numerous positive ones. Consider the islands immediately surrounding Cuba... FL Keys, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, Cozumel, Cayman Islands. Smack in the middle of prime warm, tropical, clear ocean. Though I've never been, I can't possibly imagine the diving there to be anything short of superlative. Vacationing divers heading there should not expect anyone to be "responsible" for them, any more so than anywhere else. If one is properly trained to be a confident, relaxed, self-sufficient diver, the locale and/or assigned supervisory oversight should not have any influence on their ability to assess and dive/not dive it. I might be a bit concerned about the local EMS infrastructure, but there's nothing different or ominous about the water there...

I was referring to the diving instructor/operator...not the conditions for diving in Cuba. I have been hearing from technical and experienced divers who have said the only place they felt uncomfortable diving was Cuba. For David and his friends this was their first dive - aside from the pool training the previous day. I would hope a scuba diving operator would take into account when someone is a novice diver.

 

[pepon]

VERRY SORRY FOR YOUR LOOS..I used to work for the Barracuda dive center, the one probable took then on the dive and the pool lesson. If there is anything I can help you with from here from Varadero Cuba please just let me know.Happen that out of 41 instructors about 20 of us are not with the Barracuda dive center anymore and they needed more instructors for the season so they contracted very inexperienced instructors.Do you have the name of the instructor they where diving with?

 

[feb77]

Hi,

The instructors name was Alex and the other one may have been named Eddie but they aren't sure. The place they went was down the street from their hotel, Memories of Parisso. Please email me @ feb77@rogers.com if you can help me with any information. So many lives have been affected.

Thank you,
Liz