US Expat fatality in Vanuatu

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Thanks for the detailed report

Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2103 dive) combined with doing the Valsalva manoeuvre (equalising the pressure in your ears by holding your nose and exhaling) as she dropped back into the wreck caused her to pass out. This is a known possibility for someone who is hyperventilating

I haven't heard of this combination, can you provide a link?
 
Thanks for the report Michael. Once again you have done a superb job in collecting what facts you can into a comprehensive overview.

I'm disturbed that it appears that Aquamarine have not clean up their act. When I dove with them, as a novice diver, I was quite concerned with the quality of maintenance of the gear they supplied - including a non working SPG. It would be interesting to see whether her tank did actually have 100bar left in it. Even then, with no experience, I knew that their operation had some real issues, and left and moved to another operation. The difference was light and day, and looking back, I am even more disturbed by things I witnessed. I won't go into details but it wasn't pretty.

On learning that a local LDS was using them for a Santo trip, I warned the owner of the shop of what I had seen. He was so concerned by what I had said that he hopped on a plane and went over to speak to Rehan. He told me that Rehan had promised him that he had already ordered all new gear, but I stopped servicing that LDS so I'm not sure whether that was validated when they arrived. It does however seem that their general lack of organisation has not improved.

I'm also very surprised that they now take divers directly to million dollar point without a long SI. It's also a very deep site as you know, it just doesn't gel that they would change from the SOP.

And while the dive guides there are fantastic, I do wonder if they become a little blase at time in monitoring their divers. It would be very easy to after thousands of guided dives without major incident.
 
A news story quoted early in this thread claimed that her husband stated that "She had 15 years' experience of diving"...

Her rapid breathing (as shown in the videos from her 30 April 2103 dive) combined with doing the Valsalva manoeuvre (equalising the pressure in your ears by holding your nose and exhaling) as she dropped back into the wreck caused her to pass out. This is a known possibility for someone who is hyperventilating
I haven't heard of this combination, can you provide a link?
Hyperventilate, then hold your break ---> pass out. We did that for kicks in elementary school, on the bus - not in the pool.
 
A news story quoted early in this thread claimed that her husband stated that "She had 15 years' experience of diving"...


Yeah, but what does that actually mean, except that she got certified 15 years ago & did some dives since...

Hyperventilate, then hold your break ---> pass out

Right, but equalising should take <1 second - how long did you have to hold your breath to pass out?
 
Tortuga68

Read what I wrote in full, she was not certified 15 years ago and I gave full details of her certifications and experience.

Re passing out, the key thing is the hyperventilating, not the equalising. Without the hyperventilating, you will not pass out.
 
I read the whole the thread. I am not disagreeing with you on the certification, I was commenting on Don's post


Your statement (about a possible scenario) was that hyperventilation "combined with doing the Valsalva manoeuvre... caused her to pass out". So I understood you were saying that equalizing contributed to this possible event.
 
Don seems also to have ignored what I posted and believed the press.

Yes, after someone hyperventilates, if they equalise it can lead to fainting/unconsciousness.
 
Do you have a link for that? While I understand that CO2 buildup + breath hold = unconciousness, I've just never heard it before in connnection with equalization
 
A lot of people tend to hold breath while doing equ ,specially if they cannot equ easily ,i have seen it million of times , i guess thats what clownfish is talking about



Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
 
In your report you state that she may have returned to the wreck because of a dropped item, her torch or her D9. Later you state that her D9 was removed or may not have been on her. You go on to say that if the dive profile on the D9 doesn't indicate she left the wreck then some one is lying... I think it may indicate that the D9 is lying. As you suggested, it is possible that it and she became separated and it's, the D9's, profile and her's were different. How you would lose a wristwatch type dive computer is a mystery to me, but is a possibility that can't be discounted. This seems to be a tragic consequence of a diver diving beyond their skill level. Certification cards are no replacement for good judgement. Tragic and regrettable.
 

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