News is reporting "Diver missing off Blake Island" - Puget Sound, WA

[AfterDark]

And with the eclispe his weekend those forces were probably increased. I know it was a very low tide and strong current Sunday here.

 

[gcbryan]

These incidents are what the "please don't take the fun out of diving" threads seem not to be aware of. This kind of thing unfortunately isn't all that rare around here.

 

[Thalassamania]

It's rather rare to lose the body when diving SSA.

 

[Peter Guy]

Thal, does seem strange that a SSA diver would be lost but that is the reports we are getting from the news media. His body was found today in about 35 feet of water. The report again states they were spearing with SSA -- he came to the surface, yelled for help and went back down.

Autopsy is being done but I have no idea how likely it is that we will hear what really happened.

 

[redacted]

It may be otherwise, but the report says "He reportedly surfaced out of air, then slipped back under the water." From that, it sounds like diver error and panic. How often do most drill on ditching weights? We do the first dive of every trip as screw ups happen.

It leave me wondering how anyone could have known the diver was OOA? When you think about it, it just needs some explanation. The fact that a report says it is so does not, necessarily, make it true.

 

[DandyDon]

It leave me wondering how anyone could have known the diver was OOA? When you think about it, it just needs some explanation. The fact that a report says it is so does not, necessarily, make it true.

Granted. SSA or Scuba, there may be no way for anyone to know unless he screamed about air problems. Yet, editing that to "He reportedly surfaced...then slipped back under the water," is bad enough as that changed a possible rescue to a recovery.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

Here is a copy opf the news story from the AP. Just from this story, it is interesting that his dive partner was close enough to hear him yell, but could get there qucikly enough to help or find him once he went under the surface......


MANCHESTER, Wash. — The Kitsap County sheriff's office says the body of a missing 59-year-old diver has been found off Blake Island, near the area where he disappeared Sunday while spearfishing with friends.
Sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson said Navy divers found the body of Gerard Hall of Central Kitsap Monday evening in 34 feet of water.
Wilson says the death is being treated as an accident. The spokesman says Hall and his dive partner surfaced after the other diver speared a fish. After he surfaced, Hall yelled that he needed help and the other diver swam over to help him but Hall disappeared under the water.
The Kitsap Sun reports that an autopsy is planned and Hall's equipment will be examined.
Wilson praised the 16 Navy divers who assisted the sheriff's office.
Read more here: Navy divers recover body of missing WA diver | Regional News - The News Tribune