Rescue Diver Training Becomes Real Thing!

[Down2bizDiver]

Short 4 min video I shot last week. 57 year old diver runs out of air while diver from Canada is taking rescue diver course. Utila, Honduras: YouTube - SCUBA Rescue Training Goes Real Without Warning!

 

[jar546]

Please elaborate on the circumstances. Equipment failure? Was a buddy used to help him surface? Details, etc.

Depth, how found, and all that stuff. Videos are great but not when they don't give you the story for us to learn from.

PS If he ran out of air due to his own mistake for not paying attention and ruined everyone else's trip. He is in a good position in the video to kick him in the a$#.

 

[Down2bizDiver]

I gave some details in the "description" section of the youtube posting (look for and click the small down chevron symbol to read more than the first line that begins "Simon from Canada is taking Rescue Diver course"). Also, I understand that the policy of ScubaBoard is that accident / incident details and analysis must be submitted for moderator review before posting, consequently I won't post details here. The diver did survive and three days after the accident he flew home as originally planned without further incident. He was NOT put in chamber. I was one of 5 divers in his "dive buddy group." I have gone back and added some additional details on the youtube site.

 

[alibi 2]

thank you ,,this was a very interesting and informative experiance.

 

[DandyDon]

Wow! Close call. Screw ups happen but if he can't do a safe CESA or Air Share, he needs retraining.

You were there, you shot the vid, so I think you can explain as much as you want, other than maybe his name.

 

[Down2bizDiver]

About 25 minutes into a 60' max depth drift dive a 57 year old male experienced diver (1000+ dives who is an instructor but no longer teaches) reported to the divemaster that his gauge was reading less than 1000 psi while his buddy indicated more than 2000 psi. Why such low air at that point? He doesn't know. He does not remember whether he did or did not check psi before entering the water so the tank could have been an under-fill (I myself rejected 3 tanks as under filled during 6 days of diving) and/or he could have been consuming unusually high volume of air for some reason.

During the dive I did not notice any signs of O ring leak from his tank nor similar sign of leak and the video I shot does not show any air escaping from his tank, BCD or elsewhere.

The divemaster did not send the tank/BCD/regulator with the diver to the hospital and did not check his gear/tank at any time after he got out of the water. Consequently, in fact, no one knows what the actual psi of the tank was or whether there was a problem with the regulator or other mechanical problem.

When he informed the divemaster of low air she had him begin buddy breathing and sent the two to the surface. I noticed the gesturing and saw the two split off from the group swimming with linked arms but I was too far away to notice the buddy breathing. I saw no sign of panic or emergency or anything that would have caused me to point my camera at them. The divemaster stayed with me and the other two divers in our group. When we were picked up at the end of the dive, about 30 minutes after victim was sent to the surface, we were completely surprised to find him on the floor of the boat as seen in the video. At first, I thought he was role playing as part of the rescue diver training.

He and his buddy told me they did buddy breathing on ascent to the surface but he went back onto his less than 500 psi indicated tank at the safety stop even though his buddy still had sufficient air for both. Why did he do that? He says he thought 500 psi was enough to complete the 15' safety stop and go to the surface. His buddy told me that he aborted the safety stop after about 1 minute and he went to the surface. She completed the stop. When she got to the surface she reports he was clearly in trouble with labored breathing and he was trying to swim to the boat rather than wait for the boat to come to him.

This is the first actual emergency ever experienced by the any of the three instructor/divemasters onboard. Fortunately, an M.D. diver is onboard and assists.

According the doctor, this diver nearly drowns, not from ingesting sea water but from over expanding his lungs and causing interstitial body fluid to enter as a result of sucking too hard on an empty SCUBA tank. The fluid in his lungs gave him sensation of suffocating / drowning and he was actually drowning because his capacity to absorb oxygen was reduced.

The doctor reported to the group that the injury was NOT related to nitrogen loading and NOT decompression sickness. He was taken to a hyperbaric chamber but not put in. He was put on straight oxygen and bed rest for 2 days. He was back to nearly normal by day three.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks Down2.

Why did he do that?

Just guessing, as that's all we can often do here - I would go back to my own back tank after the SS for the ascent, or suggest that to the LOA diver, if the Spg showed 500#. Easier final ascent, less likely to have problems. Or I might skip the SS if the total air for the two was low, but you thot they had plenty. Really odd how a text book recovery from a LOA situation could go so badly.

Was the ex-Inst in the Rescue class as a student? That would be odd too. Was he diving rental gear? I'm sure the DM checked it later, but didn't want to with witnesses.

When chatting with an ex-Inst I have to dive with, I find it helpful to ask where all they have dived, and how many dives they've logged in the ocean.

 

[CW2008]

IPE maybe? Could it be coincidental to the almost OOA situation?

 

[Down2bizDiver]

Thanks Down2.
Was the ex-Inst in the Rescue class as a student? Was he diving rental gear? I'm sure the DM checked it later, but didn't want to with witnesses.

There was only one student doing the rescue diver course, not the diver who got into trouble. The rest of us (14?) were simply divers on the boat all staying the week at the same resort. From time to time during surface intervals some of us would volunteer to role play victim as a courtesy to the student and his instructor. After the accident only other instructors played the victim part. The victim had all his own gear.

His tank was never checked. When the thought occurred the tank had already been removed from the boat and no way to tell which of many tanks had been his.

One thing that is interesting but would not have contributed to the accident: his dive computer is an older model that must be manually activated before each dive and cannot be activated once in the water. He did not activate it before jumping in and when he realized it was not turned on he did not go back to the surface to activate it. He did have a separate stopwatch that he did start and he had a separate working depth gauge in his console.

 

[bleeb]

According the doctor, this diver nearly drowns, not from ingesting sea water but from over expanding his lungs and causing interstitial body fluid to enter as a result of sucking too hard on an empty SCUBA tank. The fluid in his lungs gave him sensation of suffocating / drowning.

Those interested in reading more discussion regarding Immersion Pulmonary Edema may wish to have a look at denisegg's recent experience.