Two divers died in a Sloka quarry, Latvia

[Johanan]

There is a quarry near Riga, the capital of Latvia, which is the training place for most of beginning divers. Depth 3-5m with submerged platforms and other stuff for learning. Average visibility is 5-7m. It is a plain and benign place, which often serves as a place for pool sessions. Last week two divers died there. A man and a woman in their 40s’, bearing the same surname.

Winters use to be quite cold here. The quarry is covered with about 15 cm of ice. Two divers – hydro ecologists were on a fun dive. About the time they had to be back, they couldn’t be reached by phone. Police found their car with clothing in it at the quarry with no signs that they did come back to the shore. Four days later the rescuers found their bodies on the opposite side of the quarry from where they entered. They had compasses and empty cylinders but no signs of security lines or of a surface team. Apparently they spent the last minutes of their lives trying in vain to break through the ice.

Degpunktā - Traģēdija Slokas karjerā! - Degpunktā - TVPlay video portāls

 

[GreggS]

Wow. Being trapped under 6" of ice with air running out would be terrifying. So sad to hear about this. But honestly, it doesn't sound like the dive was very well planned out, especially with how to find their way back to the entry location.

Condolences to any family that may be remaining.

 

[FinnMom]

Any more information on how they were supposed to have found their way out and why this failed?
How is winter diving usually handled at this quarry, or among the divers these guys normally dived with?

I have seen sites with fixed ropes and good visibility, where divers have no ropes on them, or then the more standard approach where each diver or diver pair has a signal rope to a surface tender (a surface tender meaning a living person hanging onto the rope, ideally monitoring signals but at the very least hanging onto the rope).

 

[Johanan]

Any more information on how they were supposed to have found their way out and why this failed?
How is winter diving usually handled at this quarry, or among the divers these guys normally dived with?

I have seen sites with fixed ropes and good visibility, where divers have no ropes on them, or then the more standard approach where each diver or diver pair has a signal rope to a surface tender (a surface tender meaning a living person hanging onto the rope, ideally monitoring signals but at the very least hanging onto the rope).

There are no permanent lines from/to the point of entry. Normally ice diving there is performed with signaling lines attached to the divers and with a surface team, which holds these lines. Not this time. Apparently they just relied on teir compasses for navigation. There are several submerged objects; among them a platform about 50m/150ft from the shore, which usually serves as a reference point. Divers who know the place could find the way back even without a compass. Precision of this method could be +/- 10m - perhaps not good enough to find a small hole in the ice. The biggest problem arises, however, if you miss the platform entirely. The visibility normally is about 5m/15ft. You may pass it in few meters without noticing it. If you are lost, the bottom gives no clear hints which way to go. It happened to me, that I had to surface to take the compass direction back. Not an option during an ice dive. My speculation is that either they got lost in middle of water which made their compasses useless or just missed the hole for some meters on their way back and could not find it. Apparently they moved along the shore searching for it until they run out of air. At that point they already were on the opposite side of the quarry.