Iruka
Contributor
There are 2 threads on this same topic. I brought her body up after the dive. I'll post on the other thread in case anyone wants to hear at least a little first hand information.
Diving fatality in Guam
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Iruka
Contributor
I'm the one who brought up the body, and someone (Banyan) mentioned this topic was on Scubaboard & might want to hear firsthand information. Guamrider (I probably know you personally, but not by your screen name?) has everything just about right....the only major correction to his account is that I did NOT go in the chamber. I went to the Navy base for a "checkup" and stayed there a couple hours when they re-did the DCS checkup, and they gave me a clean bill of health. It's now about 2 days later, so I'm fine.
The Coast Guard has talked to me & the others involved in this, so there is some information about the dive itself which hasn't come out, but anything not published (such as victim's name, etc) I'm not going to comment on. I'll just give my account as honestly as possible, as best I recall.
An older, white couple were diving as a buddy team. They were given a proper safety briefing on the boat (I heard it while I was getting my own divers ready.) The briefing included a recommendation NOT to go through the exit of the Blue Hole (which is around 35m/120') unless they were extremely confident, competent, etc. The other thing I recall (as I wasn't paying any special attention to it) was the recommendation that they just drop down a little bit to take a look, and then come back to the upper entrance (around 18m/60'.)
These divers had no guide. I'm not criticizing that...most local and many experienced English-speaking tourists book directly with the dive shops/boats & dive as buddy teams safely. However, not having a guide in this situation removes at least one witness or account of what happened underwater.
I did not see either of them during the dive. I finished my dive uneventfully, 40m total time 45 min (never in deco, done as multi-level on my computer) and got all my divers back on the boat. As I got on the boat, the captain asked if I'd seen the missing diver. I hadn't, and said "no." Her buddy was standing on the boat next to the captain at this point.
There were probably about 4 dive shop boats in the vicinity...the MDA captain asked (by radio or shouting to nearby boats) in anyone had seen her, and to keep a look out...and I assume the Coast Guard was called about this time.
A few other instructors jumped in the water with snorkel gear & swam on the surface trying to spot her, bubbles, etc. with no luck.
The captain then put on scuba gear, and was getting ready to enter the water. I asked if he wanted help, and he said something to the effect "if you're willing, but don't endanger yourself."
He got in a minute or two ahead of me, as I had to change tanks. I jumped in and went over the "wall" by the Blue Hole entrance. As there had been a lot of divers, I assumed if she had gotten into trouble in shallow water, almost certainly someone would have seen her. The diving conditions that day were nearly perfect. Virtually no currrent or waves, and visibility more than 100'.
Assuming again that she had gotten into trouble directly below or just outside the EXIT of the Blue Hole, I dropped down to around 50m/165' or so, from which I could see the bottom (which is about 65m/215' directly down from the Blue Hole, and which then slopes even deeper.) I saw the boat captain at about the same depth as me, swimming to the south. He went that direction for a short while, then circled back. I was pretty much following him at this point. The only reason I found the diver was from a couple bubbles. I knew (especially after my first dive) that I couldn't go down & "search" on the bottom for any length of time, so I was just hoping to spot the diver/body from around 50m. When I saw the bubbles, I knew they were coming from a lot deeper than 65m (due to the slope.) I tapped on my tank a few times to try to get the Captain's attention, but wasn't able to. I want to be clear about the bubbles....it wasn't like a person's breathing, or a regulator free flowing or anything like that. It was a single bubble, followed by another single bubble every 10 or 20 seconds, something like that. It was just enough be able to get an idea on where they were coming from. Anyhow, I eventually got deep enough (maybe 70m/230'?...I wasn't looking at my depth gauge at this point) to spot the body on the bottom. She seemed to have all gear in place, except possibly for no weight belt. I've done some deep diving before, so mostly I wanted to be sure to get back myself, but also to send her up if possible. Anyhow, I wanted to get her bouyant with as little effort & as quickly as possible. When I got to her, she was motionless, lying on her side. I tried to inflate her BCD & regulator, but no effect. I then took maybe 3 breaths & tried to orally inflate her BCD as well. I did so, but it also didn't seem to be having any effect, and I was getting pretty light-headed. So I inflated my BCD a bit, enough to get us ascending. I knew I couldn't safely go to the surface...my computer said (I didn't look at it at the time 89m/294'; I was told hers was 299') so I tried to figure out the best way to get her up with me. The BCD, as we ascended, became a little more bouyant. At some point on the way up, I got her out of the BCD (she had no weight belt, but had a full wetsuit) an sent the BCD up next to the boat. I suppose by that point, it wouldn't have mattered if I'd left the BCD on, but by now she was very bouyant and didn't need it. I had about 60' of line and a safety sausage; I got right next to the boat at around 60' and sent her up and inflated the sausage as well. I must have let go of her first, because it would be tricky to inflate a safety sausage while hanging onto someone with one hand. In any case, she & the safety sausage both hit the surface within just a few meters of the boat. I (from below) saw someone immediately jump in & pull her onto the boat.
At this time, I thought I'd done what I could, she was with trained medical people (I think the Rescue boat had arrived by then) and my concern was for ME not to come up right away. I'd hoped to do deco according to my computer, but by the time I hit 18m/60', it was already in "error" mode & would no longer function as a computer...just showed time & depth. I wrote on my slate "she was at 299'. I need more time/air" I "waved" my dive float back & forth by tugging on it, and was able to get the attention of someone on the boat, who brought me down another tank. The dive profile on my computer for that dive was 89m/294' for 63 minutes. I haven't looked at the minute by minute profile on it yet, but I'd estimate less than 6 or 7 minutes were below 50m......the remaining 50+ minutes were spent between 18m and 3m/10' doing as much deco as I could. By slate, I let the boat know that my computer was in error, they told me they had 02 on board and would be heading to the dive locker/deco chamber as soon as I got on board. So, I got on the boat, got on 02 and we went to the Navy facility. (the victim had been taken away long ago on a Coast Guard rescue boat.)
I never entered the chamber, but the Navy staff did various neurological tests to check for DCS symptoms, and everything came up negative. The recommended I stay there another hour or two for observation, which I did. The did the tests again, again everything seemed to be fine. It's now about 2 days later, so I guess I got lucky.
That's about all I have to say other than 1) diver had a buddy but buddy came up alone. 2) proper briefing was given & boat crew/staff did everything reasonable to help. 3) today's latest newspaper report said, essentially, that she had no 02 in her brain, no nitrogen bubbles in her blood, and most likely drowned well before she was found. In the other thread on this same topic, there were comments that she had a heart attack or stroke during the dive. I haven't heard or read anything to that effect.
I'm not going to talk about the circumstances about what happened during their dive. I wasn't there. If the authorities wish to release any other information, I suppose that's up to them, but for me to state what I "think" I know probably wouldn't be responsible or helpful. That's about all I can think of. I just got a call from the Guam Police Dept. (marine division) and they want to get my statement as well.
The Coast Guard has talked to me & the others involved in this, so there is some information about the dive itself which hasn't come out, but anything not published (such as victim's name, etc) I'm not going to comment on. I'll just give my account as honestly as possible, as best I recall.
An older, white couple were diving as a buddy team. They were given a proper safety briefing on the boat (I heard it while I was getting my own divers ready.) The briefing included a recommendation NOT to go through the exit of the Blue Hole (which is around 35m/120') unless they were extremely confident, competent, etc. The other thing I recall (as I wasn't paying any special attention to it) was the recommendation that they just drop down a little bit to take a look, and then come back to the upper entrance (around 18m/60'.)
These divers had no guide. I'm not criticizing that...most local and many experienced English-speaking tourists book directly with the dive shops/boats & dive as buddy teams safely. However, not having a guide in this situation removes at least one witness or account of what happened underwater.
I did not see either of them during the dive. I finished my dive uneventfully, 40m total time 45 min (never in deco, done as multi-level on my computer) and got all my divers back on the boat. As I got on the boat, the captain asked if I'd seen the missing diver. I hadn't, and said "no." Her buddy was standing on the boat next to the captain at this point.
There were probably about 4 dive shop boats in the vicinity...the MDA captain asked (by radio or shouting to nearby boats) in anyone had seen her, and to keep a look out...and I assume the Coast Guard was called about this time.
A few other instructors jumped in the water with snorkel gear & swam on the surface trying to spot her, bubbles, etc. with no luck.
The captain then put on scuba gear, and was getting ready to enter the water. I asked if he wanted help, and he said something to the effect "if you're willing, but don't endanger yourself."
He got in a minute or two ahead of me, as I had to change tanks. I jumped in and went over the "wall" by the Blue Hole entrance. As there had been a lot of divers, I assumed if she had gotten into trouble in shallow water, almost certainly someone would have seen her. The diving conditions that day were nearly perfect. Virtually no currrent or waves, and visibility more than 100'.
Assuming again that she had gotten into trouble directly below or just outside the EXIT of the Blue Hole, I dropped down to around 50m/165' or so, from which I could see the bottom (which is about 65m/215' directly down from the Blue Hole, and which then slopes even deeper.) I saw the boat captain at about the same depth as me, swimming to the south. He went that direction for a short while, then circled back. I was pretty much following him at this point. The only reason I found the diver was from a couple bubbles. I knew (especially after my first dive) that I couldn't go down & "search" on the bottom for any length of time, so I was just hoping to spot the diver/body from around 50m. When I saw the bubbles, I knew they were coming from a lot deeper than 65m (due to the slope.) I tapped on my tank a few times to try to get the Captain's attention, but wasn't able to. I want to be clear about the bubbles....it wasn't like a person's breathing, or a regulator free flowing or anything like that. It was a single bubble, followed by another single bubble every 10 or 20 seconds, something like that. It was just enough be able to get an idea on where they were coming from. Anyhow, I eventually got deep enough (maybe 70m/230'?...I wasn't looking at my depth gauge at this point) to spot the body on the bottom. She seemed to have all gear in place, except possibly for no weight belt. I've done some deep diving before, so mostly I wanted to be sure to get back myself, but also to send her up if possible. Anyhow, I wanted to get her bouyant with as little effort & as quickly as possible. When I got to her, she was motionless, lying on her side. I tried to inflate her BCD & regulator, but no effect. I then took maybe 3 breaths & tried to orally inflate her BCD as well. I did so, but it also didn't seem to be having any effect, and I was getting pretty light-headed. So I inflated my BCD a bit, enough to get us ascending. I knew I couldn't safely go to the surface...my computer said (I didn't look at it at the time 89m/294'; I was told hers was 299') so I tried to figure out the best way to get her up with me. The BCD, as we ascended, became a little more bouyant. At some point on the way up, I got her out of the BCD (she had no weight belt, but had a full wetsuit) an sent the BCD up next to the boat. I suppose by that point, it wouldn't have mattered if I'd left the BCD on, but by now she was very bouyant and didn't need it. I had about 60' of line and a safety sausage; I got right next to the boat at around 60' and sent her up and inflated the sausage as well. I must have let go of her first, because it would be tricky to inflate a safety sausage while hanging onto someone with one hand. In any case, she & the safety sausage both hit the surface within just a few meters of the boat. I (from below) saw someone immediately jump in & pull her onto the boat.
At this time, I thought I'd done what I could, she was with trained medical people (I think the Rescue boat had arrived by then) and my concern was for ME not to come up right away. I'd hoped to do deco according to my computer, but by the time I hit 18m/60', it was already in "error" mode & would no longer function as a computer...just showed time & depth. I wrote on my slate "she was at 299'. I need more time/air" I "waved" my dive float back & forth by tugging on it, and was able to get the attention of someone on the boat, who brought me down another tank. The dive profile on my computer for that dive was 89m/294' for 63 minutes. I haven't looked at the minute by minute profile on it yet, but I'd estimate less than 6 or 7 minutes were below 50m......the remaining 50+ minutes were spent between 18m and 3m/10' doing as much deco as I could. By slate, I let the boat know that my computer was in error, they told me they had 02 on board and would be heading to the dive locker/deco chamber as soon as I got on board. So, I got on the boat, got on 02 and we went to the Navy facility. (the victim had been taken away long ago on a Coast Guard rescue boat.)
I never entered the chamber, but the Navy staff did various neurological tests to check for DCS symptoms, and everything came up negative. The recommended I stay there another hour or two for observation, which I did. The did the tests again, again everything seemed to be fine. It's now about 2 days later, so I guess I got lucky.
That's about all I have to say other than 1) diver had a buddy but buddy came up alone. 2) proper briefing was given & boat crew/staff did everything reasonable to help. 3) today's latest newspaper report said, essentially, that she had no 02 in her brain, no nitrogen bubbles in her blood, and most likely drowned well before she was found. In the other thread on this same topic, there were comments that she had a heart attack or stroke during the dive. I haven't heard or read anything to that effect.
I'm not going to talk about the circumstances about what happened during their dive. I wasn't there. If the authorities wish to release any other information, I suppose that's up to them, but for me to state what I "think" I know probably wouldn't be responsible or helpful. That's about all I can think of. I just got a call from the Guam Police Dept. (marine division) and they want to get my statement as well.
Iruka, thanks for posting.
Your effort went way beyond what anyone would reasonably expect. Glad you came out ok from doing that.
Your effort went way beyond what anyone would reasonably expect. Glad you came out ok from doing that.
Truly above and beyond... and incredibly lucky as well. I don't know about the rest of you, but breathing PO2 of 2.1 ATM, and PN2 of 7.9 ATM is not something I'd really care to be doing. The quite serious risks of CNS oxygen toxicity, and severe nitrogen narcosis are not to be understated...
Moderators: This thread has been mistakenly merged with that of a thread describing the Guam fatality from almost exactly a year ago. The posts from 2009 are an entirely separate incident from the one Iruka describes in detail above, though they both involve women of similar ages. Please unmerge.
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davita
Registered
Chris/Iruka, Thanks for the post and I'm glad you came out OK...above and beyond is an understatment!
Tony
Tony
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I get Google-alerts for diver deaths and have received a few emails about this but the info was already here when I checked. I'll post today's news story below as links so often fail shortly afterward on news stories.
I know that buddies often separate voluntarily on dives, one ascending alone and the other staying below with different possibilities, but I hate it. I've been sent up alone because I was the air hog at times and refused to dive with that buddy again. Other times I have resented having to surface with my instant buddy before I wanted to, but always have - usually with no comments. I am not much of a diver, but I do feel strongly that buddy pairs descend together and ascend together - none of the "meet on he bottom/top" stuff you read about in discussions at times. Either it's a buddy dive from splash to climb out or not. Damn.
I certainly commend Iruka for going down for the recovery. I certainly wouldn't do it, and while I appreciate that he is far more qualified than I, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone - especially alone, on a repeat dive, etc. I know you don't want to give up hope if you think there is any, but I just don't see any from "single bubble, followed by another single bubble every 10 or 20 seconds" far below 50 meters. I guess Iruka did what he felt he had to do and admire him for it, but would never suggest such. If I go missing at 200-300 feet, I certainly do not expect anyone to recover my body; I know it's done, but I just don't agree. I've stated so in my letter held by my daughter, altho that may not do any good.
I was amazed to see public autopsy results so quickly...
I know that buddies often separate voluntarily on dives, one ascending alone and the other staying below with different possibilities, but I hate it. I've been sent up alone because I was the air hog at times and refused to dive with that buddy again. Other times I have resented having to surface with my instant buddy before I wanted to, but always have - usually with no comments. I am not much of a diver, but I do feel strongly that buddy pairs descend together and ascend together - none of the "meet on he bottom/top" stuff you read about in discussions at times. Either it's a buddy dive from splash to climb out or not. Damn.
I certainly commend Iruka for going down for the recovery. I certainly wouldn't do it, and while I appreciate that he is far more qualified than I, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone - especially alone, on a repeat dive, etc. I know you don't want to give up hope if you think there is any, but I just don't see any from "single bubble, followed by another single bubble every 10 or 20 seconds" far below 50 meters. I guess Iruka did what he felt he had to do and admire him for it, but would never suggest such. If I go missing at 200-300 feet, I certainly do not expect anyone to recover my body; I know it's done, but I just don't agree. I've stated so in my letter held by my daughter, altho that may not do any good.
I was amazed to see public autopsy results so quickly...
Shasta_man
Contributor
Thanks for trying, Chris. Your act will close the "what if" questions the relatives will have had.
Don't understand how buddies get separated.
Don't understand how buddies get separated.
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