I have been following this thread closely and wondering if I should weigh in. I am the diver the original post referred to that went into the water to retrieve the deceased and was the one to initiate CPR on shore. In an effort to reduce the speculation and to ease curiosity I can confirm some details of the incident.
The incident occurred August 24, 2013 at around 2:30 pm at Cameron Bay in Waterton Lakes National Park. Despite what has been reported on some of the news videos and stories, I was not a part of the group in question, nor was I in the water at the time of the incident. For those unaware I am a former EMT, a current Firefighter, A NAUI Scuba Diving Instructor and NAUI First Aid Instructor. I was not instructing on this day nor was I a part of any class, but rather I was there for a recreational dive with my wife. We dove the same site just prior to the incident; upon completion of our dive while exiting the water we noticed a group of divers just getting in. As there were several dive groups around the park that day, this was not a surprise.
About 20 minutes later, I was out of my drysuit and packing up my gear when I heard calls for help. I raced to the shore while my wife called 911. Upon reaching the shore I witnessed a group of divers giving in water rescue breaths to what appeared to be an unconscious diver. I ran into the water and grabbed the man from the divers. I performed in water rescue breaths as I towed the man to shore. Upon reaching shore and getting him out of the water I checked for a pulse, feeling none I initiated CPR.
About this same time a subsequent group of divers witnessed what was going on and came down the beach to help. They brought their oxygen kit and we placed the man on oxygen and replaced the mouth to mouth ventilations that I was doing at the time, to using a pocket mask with a one-way valve (supplemented with the Oxygen). I continued chest compressions, while one of these divers provided positive pressure ventilations. The diver was cut out of his drysuit and hooked to an AED, however by this point the man was already asystolic and no defibrillation could occur. When EMS showed up the man was given care in accordance with ACLS protocols. Because of the severity of the incident and my EMT/Firefighter experience I was asked to accompany EMS in the back of the ambulance to continue to provide assistance as the ambulance left scene. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts to revive the man both on shore, and in the ambulance we were unable to resuscitate him.
As to the events in the water that led to the incident I can only give brief comments. As I was not in the water during the dive, this information is not my first hand experience, but rather comes from talking with the divers who were directly involved. I can confirm that this was a dive group out of Calgary who was doing a Drysuit course at the time of the incident. It was their second Drysuit dive of the day. The group had a dive master and an instructor in the water with them. The DM found the man unresponsive with the regulator out of his mouth at 28 feet. The DM ditched his weights and brought him to the surface. The time frame from when the diver was last seen with everything going normally to the point where he was found unresponsive was approximately 2 minutes.
Once I was finished with aiding EMS in the resuscitation efforts I returned to the scene to give my statement to the RCMP and to check on the well being on the other divers involved. As I was doing chest compressions, I had the divers find and separate the deceased's gear to turn over to the police for their investigation. However the weightbelt was missing as it was still in the water having been ditched by the DM during the rescue. The RCMP wanted to have his full gear, and asked that it be recovered. The DM from this group, two divers from the unrelated shore group and myself made the dive and recovered the weightbelt and turned it into the RCMP.
At this time I will not go into more detail. I have heard all the witness accounts of the entire dive and by my estimation this was a tragic accident to which no one is to blame.
The incident occurred August 24, 2013 at around 2:30 pm at Cameron Bay in Waterton Lakes National Park. Despite what has been reported on some of the news videos and stories, I was not a part of the group in question, nor was I in the water at the time of the incident. For those unaware I am a former EMT, a current Firefighter, A NAUI Scuba Diving Instructor and NAUI First Aid Instructor. I was not instructing on this day nor was I a part of any class, but rather I was there for a recreational dive with my wife. We dove the same site just prior to the incident; upon completion of our dive while exiting the water we noticed a group of divers just getting in. As there were several dive groups around the park that day, this was not a surprise.
About 20 minutes later, I was out of my drysuit and packing up my gear when I heard calls for help. I raced to the shore while my wife called 911. Upon reaching the shore I witnessed a group of divers giving in water rescue breaths to what appeared to be an unconscious diver. I ran into the water and grabbed the man from the divers. I performed in water rescue breaths as I towed the man to shore. Upon reaching shore and getting him out of the water I checked for a pulse, feeling none I initiated CPR.
About this same time a subsequent group of divers witnessed what was going on and came down the beach to help. They brought their oxygen kit and we placed the man on oxygen and replaced the mouth to mouth ventilations that I was doing at the time, to using a pocket mask with a one-way valve (supplemented with the Oxygen). I continued chest compressions, while one of these divers provided positive pressure ventilations. The diver was cut out of his drysuit and hooked to an AED, however by this point the man was already asystolic and no defibrillation could occur. When EMS showed up the man was given care in accordance with ACLS protocols. Because of the severity of the incident and my EMT/Firefighter experience I was asked to accompany EMS in the back of the ambulance to continue to provide assistance as the ambulance left scene. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts to revive the man both on shore, and in the ambulance we were unable to resuscitate him.
As to the events in the water that led to the incident I can only give brief comments. As I was not in the water during the dive, this information is not my first hand experience, but rather comes from talking with the divers who were directly involved. I can confirm that this was a dive group out of Calgary who was doing a Drysuit course at the time of the incident. It was their second Drysuit dive of the day. The group had a dive master and an instructor in the water with them. The DM found the man unresponsive with the regulator out of his mouth at 28 feet. The DM ditched his weights and brought him to the surface. The time frame from when the diver was last seen with everything going normally to the point where he was found unresponsive was approximately 2 minutes.
Once I was finished with aiding EMS in the resuscitation efforts I returned to the scene to give my statement to the RCMP and to check on the well being on the other divers involved. As I was doing chest compressions, I had the divers find and separate the deceased's gear to turn over to the police for their investigation. However the weightbelt was missing as it was still in the water having been ditched by the DM during the rescue. The RCMP wanted to have his full gear, and asked that it be recovered. The DM from this group, two divers from the unrelated shore group and myself made the dive and recovered the weightbelt and turned it into the RCMP.
At this time I will not go into more detail. I have heard all the witness accounts of the entire dive and by my estimation this was a tragic accident to which no one is to blame.
