Scuba diver goes missing off Catalina Island

[Hatul]

The Undercurrent article states that Laurel jumped off the boat at 0935. Sundiver posted to Facebook at 1006 that it's a gorgeous day and a full boat. The boat left Ship Rock to another site, realized Laurel was not on board and returned to Ship Rock to do a search. Around noon, the captain called the Coast Guard and reported Laurel missing.

The rest of the article is a rehash of what we know from posts here and from Orange County Register.

 

[diverrex]

Is there a protocol regarding how soon a boat should notify the Coast Guard once they realize a diver is missing?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Is there a protocol regarding how soon a boat should notify the Coast Guard once they realize a diver is missing?

Logic would dictate that no later than when the boat knows the diver is not alive on the bottom and begins an underwater search... The previous timeline(IIRC) indicated they put divers in the water to do a recovery before making the call.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

This is too good to pass up. (I'm a weak man.)

Logic would dictate that no later than when the boat knows the diver is not alive on the bottom and begins an underwater search...

dD, can you explain the logic to us that allows those on the boat to know a missing diver is not alive (which I assume means "dead") before they start the search for the missing diver? How would they know if a missing diver was alive or dead if they haven't found said missing diver?

- Ken

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Is there a protocol regarding how soon a boat should notify the Coast Guard once they realize a diver is missing?

Diverrex (a serious answer now) - There's no formal protocol other than to notify USCG (or Baywatch). I'm not sure if there's a legal requirement one way or the other. Obviously, there's a moral one. Frank (Wookie) might be able to fill us in on that aspect.

The dilemma is that once a diver goes unconscious underwater, time is of the essence. HYPOTHETICALLY (which means I'm not spilling any secrets or revealing withheld information - I'm making this part up), once they go unconscious, you have 4-6 minutes of them not breathing until irreversible brain damage/death sets in. Not a lot of time to begin a search, find them, bring them to the surface, and bring them back to the boat, where you still might not be able to save them.

So if HYPOTHETICALLY at the exact moment they went unconscious someone on the boat said, "Hey so-and-so is missing," I'd say getting a search team in the water is going to have a better shot of success than notfying USCG or Baywatch with the expectation that they will then come and start the search.

Even at Ship Rock with Isthmus Baywatch being about two miles away, by the time you raise them on the radio, tell them you have a missing diver, they run from their office to the dock, fire up the boat, race to Ship while gearing up on the way, and then jump in the water to search, you may have already used up all of that five-minute survival window.

So I'd think the prudent course of action is to get someone in the water ASAP and then put out the radio call.

- Ken

 

[diverrex]

Ken I understand your logic when a diver is missing underwater. But when a diver goes missing how do know for sure they are missing underwater or missing on the surface? I know you believe from the timeline that it is likely she never surfaced before the boat left the site. Personally from what little I have heard I also don't think she ever surfaced. But I also know that I can't know that for sure. And I don't know how the boat could have known that with 100% certainty, particularly since since they left the site and then came back. I have been on local boats where divers have been swept away by current underwater such that when they surfaced no one on the boat was able to spot them. I understand that on this day no unusual current was reported but strange things happen sometimes. And if you don't know for sure if a diver is missing underwater or missing on the surface then it would seem prudent that you notify the coast guard and other boats as soon as possible to broaden a surface search.

 

[charlier]

My heart goes out to her family and friends. Although I have never met Laurel, this thread made me take a very slow breath and pause. As I approach the Chinese New Years in Thailand, I will make sure that I am more vigilant than ever for keeping an eye out for my team and others on our boat. Its truly a sad day.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This is too good to pass up. (I'm a weak man.)

dD, can you explain the logic to us that allows those on the boat to know a missing diver is not alive (which I assume means "dead") before they start the search for the missing diver? How would they know if a missing diver was alive or dead if they haven't found said missing diver?

- Ken

Why do you feel so weak? This was all carefully explained in post 75 by me. Read that again and if you can not understand it, I will try to explain it again.

 

[Wookie]

Logic would dictate that no later than when the boat knows the diver is not alive on the bottom and begins an underwater search... The previous timeline(IIRC) indicated they put divers in the water to do a recovery before making the call.

That's one way to look at it. I look at it a little differently. A diver on the bottom that is overdue is no longer alive by definition. I would challenge anyone to find a diver alive in a situation that isn't lost in a wreck or cave. If a diver is on the bottom and overdue (overdue to me means 10-15 minutes past their due back time), the mission turns from search to recovery. There is no hurry to search on the bottom, and therefore we do not do that. We will search the surface. It is likely a missing diver is merely on the surface. Someone, however must be left at the entry point in the unlikely event that the diver does in fact return to the surface. That is typically the second boat, or tender.

I know in rescue class we all practice the scenario of rescuing the unconscious breathing diver underwater. In reality, has anyone ever seen such a thing? Especially an overdue unconscious breathing diver underwater?

In reality, I call the Coast Guard the instant I feel the diver is overdue based on previous dive times and depth of the dive site. I'd rather get them going early than miss someone in a current faster than I predicted.

 

[BMC-9]

I do not understand why they didn't notify the Coast Guard as they were racing back to Ship Rock from the second dive site when they realized she wasn't on board. I presume they had divers gearing up, ready to go in the water on the way back.