Haunting excerpt from "The Last Dive"

[brnt999]

This is an excerpt from "The Last Dive: A Father and Sons Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths" :

"On another dive inside the Doria, Berman was diving alone when he saw massive clouds of silt billowing from a hole leading into a notoriously obstructed area. Berman could hear a diver screaming through the silt, and he heard banging on the walls. He had to make a choice about whether to plunge into the silt to try to save the diver. As in the dive where Chrissy Rouse had saved the diver who was low on air and confused at 170 feet outside of the shipwreck, Berman was not personally acquainted with the other diver. But he knew from the banging and screaming that the other man was already in the throes of panic. Trying to save the diver was simply too risky, he realized. Had Berman gone inside, blinded by the silt, he was sure to be entangled in the flailing arms and gear of a diver too panicked to let himself be rescued, and there would most likely have been two fatalities instead of just one. Steve’s friends and loved ones console him as best they can; he made a wise and inevitable choice, they tell him. The man could not be helped. Berman is still haunted by the man’s screams."

I am curious what others think of this choice. Would you have tried to save the diver?

 

[TwoBitTxn]

The number one rule in any rescue is do not add to the body count.

 

[TSandM]

It would be a difficult decision, but no, I would not do it. At 230 feet, inside of a complex and unstable wreck, by myself, to enter a siltout to deal with an unknown and completely panicked diver would be more dangerous than I could face. I don't know that I would have done it, even if I'd been in a team that could assist.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

It is almost like the poll thread on The Deco Stop: The Deco Stop My reply:

I am sad to say that I have been there and it sucked. My friend, a diver I have just met (he was my friends' friend) and me. Three of us enter a cave where there are several rooms. We were checking out the rooms solo. Once I reached my turn pressure I left the cave. Later my friends comes out. He asked about the other diver and I just point to the entrance. Later we reach a pressure where we had no choice but to leave. I swear that I had tears in my eyes. Going thru my mind was 1) there is no way we can make across the reef, up the hill and swap out tanks and return. 2) How in the hell are we going to explain this to family and friends? Well, all ended well in that while we were swimming over the reef we saw bubbles coming from a crack. I looked in and tapped him and motioned that we need to go. Later we compared gas pressure and while I had 250-300 psi he still had 1000 psi. Best SAC rate I have ever seen. Later there was much discussion in what happened and future dive plans were changed. OBTW, this was along time ago and before proper training. God sometimes watches over fools. So, to answer the question: yes I will leave but will do everything possible to help prior to making that decision.​

 

[covediver]

It is a dilemma which I hope I never have to face. We teach our lifeguards that the first thing to do when approaching a victim is to survey the scene to make sure the scene is safe. Obviously, this one was not. Only when the scene is safe do we act to rescue the victim. Still, as humans with our altruism we are compelled often to act, to render aid to a person in distress. Failure to do so, while the correct decision sometimes conflicts with the moral compass all good people have. The result is being haunted by the screams. I think it would take a sociopath to feel otherwise.

 

[brnt999]

I don't know what I would have done in that situation--I can't judge. I was looking at the list of fatalities on the Andrea Doria and I am pretty sure the diver who died was Richard Roost. In a postcript to the book the author says Mr. Berman died in a later cave diving accident.

"The number one rule in any rescue is do not add to the body count."

I have read that sentiment in other posts. I don't know if I undcerstand that. If there is no risk in a rescue how many rescues would happen. I am trying to imagine a world where there was a burning building with people trapped inside and everyone stood outside because it was too risky. I am trying to imagine a world where if a terrorist flew a plane into the World Trade Center and all the fire fighters stood outside because it was too risky to go inside. There would be no heroes if nobody risked anything. It seems to be part of the human spirit to put ones life on the line to save someone else.

 

[Rhone Man]

Hearing someone die adjacent to you is pretty harrowing. There is probably an even more harrowing tale in Brett Gilliam's book, Deep Diving, about a deep air dive where one member of the team (I forget who, but they were famous) saw the other two narced out of their brains falling down into the depths, and realised that there was just no way he could safely go down to them and rescue them. He just had to watch them fall away knowing that they will never come back up.

 

[Wookie]

"The number one rule in any rescue is do not add to the body count."

I have read that sentiment in other posts. I don't know if I undcerstand that. If there is no risk in a rescue how many rescues would happen. I am trying to imagine a world where there was a burning building with people trapped inside and everyone stood outside because it was too risky. I am trying to imagine a world where if a terrorist flew a plane into the World Trade Center and all the fire fighters stood outside because it was too risky to go inside. There would be no heroes if nobody risked anything. It seems to be part of the human spirit to put ones life on the line to save someone else.

I don't believe you are rescue certified yet? The first thing we will teach you is not to get yourself in situations where you have to be rescued. Then we will teach you how to rescue yourself. Third, we will teach you how to rescue someone else with minimal danger to yourself.

In your scenario, there is no way to rescue this person without a clear and present danger to yourself. They are in a full panic, so they have no ability to reason. At all. None. I've watched rescues of divers in full panic, and it isn't pretty what people do who can't think any more. They have silted out the overhead. The only way I'm going into a silted overhead is with a line, line tender, and backup team to get my smelly butt out of there. They aren't available at the spur of the moment. Therefore, I'm not performing a rescue.

Now, I want you to think about your wife and kids for a moment. You perform a stupid rescue without thinking about it and you die yourself. You leave behind a beautiful grieving widow and a couple of mouths to feed. In a couple of years, the house has been foreclosed on, they are living in a crappy apartment, and all of your hopes and plans for the future are defunct. People become heros because they have training, equipment, and planning to allow them to go into burning buildings. Heroism comes mostly from good people being in the right place with the right equipment at the right time. It does not come from stupid impulsive actions. Ask any firefighter or policeman how much they rely on being lucky.

 

[nimoh]

all divers underwater are assuming some risk, but there are different levels of risk. Going into a wreck with zero visibility, and in an area known to contain many entanglement hazards is very high risk, and I wouldn't do it. If a diver was entangled in fishing line in open water and in full panic, I would definitely rescue them

..but I would be haunted by the screams as well

 

[Bob DBF]

A man's got to know his limitations.
Harry Callahan


brnt999 the first question should always be "How is my being dead going to help this situation?", at that point you can start to rationally decide if your skill and ability can bring the situation to a better conclusion. The case in point would probably have you both dead on the bottom out of gas or dead on the surface from embolism or bends even if you did get him free of the wreck, time and gas are two other problems.

Their is quite a list of dead heroes, so watch what you wish for.



Bob
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... you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Harry Calahan