Teen drowns at North Texas scuba park

[TxHockeyGuy]

I think what Scubatooth is trying to say is that because rescue classes have yelled help in the past those instructors who allowed that are partly at fault for any delay, and I don't believe there was any, in getting immediate medical attention to the victim.

 

[Firefyter]

I did read the entire thread before posting.

Obviously not. There was no instructor out there having their students call "help", therefore there was no delay getting help because of it.

It also leaves me wondering why there was a instructor having a class use the H word in a rescue class as to me thats a major contributing factor to this death, that will be investigated in the coming days.

There may be an investigation, but it won't be about an instructor having a class use the "H" word.....

Also in this case probably delayed EMS being called which meant precious minutes where lost that even a couple of minutes are the meaning the difference between life and death.

Suppositions caused by NOT reading the entire thread.....

 

[sdp]

Does anyone know what time of day this happened? I was out there teaching an OW class, but was clear on the other end of the lake.

Just trying to figure out if I was actually there or not when the incident occured? I left the park about 3:30 on Sunday.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I believe the calls for help came between 11:00 and 11:30 AM.

 

[mongoose]

Anyways, the whole park is very laid back and safety seemed to take a back seat.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I will say this ... some of the people who go there may be laid back, but Robert is certainly not. He might appear that way, but he's just being nice. Try driving over the speed limit, or creating an entaglement hazard. He can get real stern real quick.

I've known this man for years, and I can tell you he takes the safety of his customers very seriously.

--'Goose

 

[ScubaTexan]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I will say this ... some of the people who go there may be laid back, but Robert is certainly not. He might appear that way, but he's just being nice. Try driving over the speed limit, or creating an entaglement hazard. He can get real stern real quick.

I've known this man for years, and I can tell you he takes the safety of his customers very seriously.

--'Goose

And he enforces the NO SWIMMING rule to the nth degree, as well. Do not try the patience of this man.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

This is what drives me crazy about the newspaper business, and also why I no longer wish to be associated with that industry. If a victim, is "expected to survive," then it is NOT a drowning! It can be a near-drowning, but if it's a drowning incident, then the victim did not survive.

I know you guys might be on deadline, but GET IT RIGHT!!

CDC defines drowning as "experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in water." There are three recognized possible outcomes. Mortality, morbidity or impairment, or no morbidity.

TwoBit

 

[scubabum2]

There's some places that I'm less comfortable with and CSSP ranks up there. PK and Whitney are other places on that list, for different reasons. Common factors are poor vis, cold, depth and the possibility of disorientation or entanglements, at least to the point of overwhelming a newly certified diver who is likely overweighted to begin with. All 3 places are training grounds for classes (or in the case of Whitney, I'm not sure what the current status is). CSSP sometimes has good vis, but I could see myself getting overwhelmed with those factors when I had fewer than 20 dives under my belt.

The last time that I dove at CSSP, we lost a diver in our group going down to the deepest part and we came up to check. No sign of him. Luckily, he had gotten cold and went back to the dock by himself but he still didn't signal anyone that those were his intentions. I was concerned and went back down the line with another diver to look for him. This is case & point as to why I prefer to dive solo.

Maybe we just need to take a deep breath and let the facts about the situation play out (if they ever do considering the situation). I feel very sorry for the family and a dad that was trying to turn his kiddo on to scuba.

 

[Foo]

I also pray that the family, witnesses, friends, and instructors will be comforted by God- the peace that passes all understanding.

Please understand that Robert was devastated about this tragedy, and was praying and clinging to hope when he learned of her having a pulse. I agree with Hockey Guy- the park can only provide as safe a diving environment as possible. The staff can not monitor the underwater activities, or problems that occur- no one can unless they are under the water, and even then the range of area that one can monitor is very limited.

It's the nature of the scuba beast that when you are diving under an instructor, the instructor is at least partly responsible for your safety. Once you are certified, you are responsible for your own safety, and your buddy. So many things could have occurred, from equipment failure induced panic to becoming suddenly frightened for some reason. Also, the visibility on Sunday ranged from about 5-15 feet, depending on where you were. We did go through a silt-out at one point, and it can be disorienting.

This diver was accomplished/confident in the water, which lends me to believe that there was some very real reason for her panic. Please do not flame me- this is NOT speculation about what happened to this young one, rather, I want to remind everyone that there is not always someone to blame- although we sure want to make some sense of it all...

I agree with TxHockeyGuy's reasoning that in the future, if he hears someone cry help, he's going to hit 911 and ask questions later. I will do the same.

 

[DandyDon]

As far as learning from this...

I agree with TxHockeyGuy's reasoning that in the future, if he hears someone cry help, he's going to hit 911 and ask questions later. I will do the same.

Hell, yes! I understand that was not the problem in this case, but since we brought it up in this thread. I saw a rescue course in action in Santa Rosa NM when I was new, and wondered if it was real. But then, I was not qualified to try to do anything, others around were.