Diving incident at Eagles Nest Sink

[KevinNM]

I think your point on the lights was important also. Diver 1 could have activated a secondary and left it clipped to his harness once they lost the other primary, and diver 2 could have had a light deployed out of his pocket and turned on. This would have helped whenever they lost the light head. And the whole EO plug on a primary light head seems like maybe not as good an idea as it seemed when I was looking at lights in the store..

That they apparently couldn't find the safety bottles seems important. Ensuring they can be seen from the PoV of a diver exiting the cave. And while I understand you feel its unnecessary, if they had put marker lights on these, would that have helped make them more visible?

 

[PfcAJ]

I think your point on the lights was important also. Diver 1 could have activated a secondary and left it clipped to his harness once they lost the other primary, and diver 2 could have had a light deployed out of his pocket and turned on. This would have helped whenever they lost the light head. And the whole EO plug on a primary light head seems like maybe not as good an idea as it seemed when I was looking at lights in the store..

That they apparently couldn't find the safety bottles seems important. Ensuring they can be seen from the PoV of a diver exiting the cave. And while I understand you feel its unnecessary, if they had put marker lights on these, would that have helped make them more visible?

I think at that point in the dive there was no recovery.

In my estimation losing the light and the drowning probably occurred at about the same time.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm confused as to why diver 1 could make it through the restriction with his ccr on but diver 2 could not. Anyone?

 

[OMANDIVER]

My own experience of cave diving is that I prefer to dive sidemount OC with a three person team. Backmount CCR just doesnt look like the right piece of equipment unless you are in a space without restrictions. It may give you greater penetration distance but limits the spaces you can dive in. They are too big and too easily damaged. Three person team gives you more options in lots of different situations. Getting really wedged for example in a narrow bedding plane is better handled with two other people to help get you out. I'm a regular civilian cave diver not someone at the cutting edge of this sport.

 

[OMANDIVER]

I'm confused as to why diver 1 could make it through the restriction with his ccr on but diver 2 could not. Anyone?

I have got really stuck in a restriction in sidemount following another divers route. The smallest difference in configuration, equipment or route can do it.

 

[Dan]

I'm confused as to why diver 1 could make it through the restriction with his ccr on but diver 2 could not. Anyone?

One of the scenario (lost track of who's post after reading over the 50+ pages) talks about after both passing through the Revelation Space, the restriction gets a bit mucky due to buoyancy problem with CCRs as the divers get deeper into the cave. One the way back Diver1 mucks it even worse to near zero visibility in which Diver2 loses track where the restriction is (also the restriction looks different on the way back than on the way in).

I don't remember anyone or the Statement of Facts mentions about what happened to the line or whether it was actually placed, as they went into the Revelation space restriction or not. When you have a zero visibility, even if the line were placed, Diver1 could have knocked it off with one of his fins or got tangled by his gear from the buoyancy problem. Even if it were still as it was, following the line from the right side or left side of the line could make a difference, as one of the cave diver that went through this restriction mentioned in the previous post.

 

[KevinNM]

Yes, apparently having the line in the left hand instead of your right hand (or vice versa) can make it very hard. Someone also mentioned that the wrong path looks more inviting that the correct path.

However I'm not sure they have confirmed that the divers made it into revelation space. Supposedly it is deeper that the rest of the cave, so if they can get the computers to download it willl tell them, but there were issues due to the 30 hour dive length.

I would presume that pictures of the scene would give info. I've been told that earlier in the cave the silt almost swallowed a big old-school DPV years ago. So if the CCR and/or DPVs were just resting on the bottom, had plowed a trail from the restriction, or cratered in a foot without a trail would each tell you something.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I'm confused as to why diver 1 could make it through the restriction with his ccr on but diver 2 could not. Anyone?

Ok, I guess I may as well post my guess of what happened in view of my previous experiences there.

The dive was planned well with plenty of BO gas. The divers had the certs to do the dive and had been in Eagles Nest before. . .

MY OPINION:

They went through the restriction and did their dive into Revelation Space. Upon their return to the restriction the vis was either not very good or the first diver out mucked it up for the second diver. The second diver had difficulty getting out the restriction either by going on the wrong side of the line or being in too much of a heads up position and his rebreather not clearing the ceiling. After several minutes of trying to get out the diver decided that he must remove his rebreather to get out. Since his Bo is also clipped to the same harness then he effectively becomes no mount at this point. He is buoyant as hell but the ceiling works in his favor. He pushes the rebreather and tank through the restriction and his buddy helps pull them out. by the time the diver is out of the restriction he has probably pretty much used up that entire tank and the visibilty is completely gone in that area and the silt cloud is bellowing into the room of dreams. As the diver trys to locate and get his RB back on his buoyancy takes him on a hell ride to the ceiling with his BO tank and his buddy goes to the rescue with his own BO. As they float at the ceiling they see nothing through the silt below them and decide to exit relying on their BO and staged tanks. I highly doubt that either of them even looked at their deco obligation until this time.

Pick it apart all you want, I have not interest in trying to justify my thoughts. The fact that they were still together until the end tells me that regardless of how things went, they worked together and did everything to the best of their ability, knowledge, and experience to stay alive.

I believe, as others have already said, that the fatal mistake was in not taking the time needed to locate and get back into the rebreather. It is entirely possible that due to the circumstances that this was either not a possibility or was perceived as such in one or both of their minds.

Dsix36's Incident at Eagle's Nest 07Feb2015

Diving incident at Eagles Nest Sink

 

[apitkin]

I think the real takeaway here is not to take your rig off (unless you're specifically configured for that).

Or, to go back one step, avoid getting into a situation where you think it is necessary.

The root cause of this accident is that these divers, although trained and experienced cave divers, were not experienced enough to attempt this very advanced cave dive. Unfortunately, like previous fatal incidents, they did not know what they didn't know. But instead of dipping a toe in the water of the unknown, they took a deep breath, said 'here goes!' and jumped right in.

 

[BDSC]

Sure, there's the cost of multiple CCRs, but since people draw parallels between Eagle's Nest and Everest, perhaps the budgets and preparation should be comparable as well. The stakes are the same.

I have no idea what CCR's cost now or how much equipment you would need to successfully do this dive but a good buddy of mine did Everest several years ago. At that time it cost him close to $30,000. He says now it would run $45,000 and up.