Equipment Woman loses lower leg to prop - Maldives liveaboard

[RB7]

So she wouldn't lose it is my guess. My home buddy once bought a nice, new sausage & reel, stuck it into a BC pocket he left open, then lost it on the first dive of a trip.

Yes.. I understand that clipping an uninflated SMB and reel to your BCD is common practice. I do it as well. I was under the impression that the SMB was inflated hence my confusion as to why clip an inflated SMB to the BCD.. wasn't not sure if that was common practice as well.

 

[scubaNYC16]

On the first dive on a LOB each diver has to deploy their SMB to show the guide that they know how to use it.

Yup. I was in the Maldives last month and it was a good refresher on how to use my SMB. Reminded me I need more practice

 

[scubaozy]

It does not have to be clipped, if there is slack in the rope, you can still get entangled. I see often divers. trying to get their reel sorted at the surface when waiting for the boat with a lot of slack.

 

[Boarderguy]

Why was the prop engaged with divers near... unless she had a full spool of line out that was taken up by the prop as the boat got near to pick her up, but still.

 

[ontdiver]

It does not have to be clipped, if there is slack in the rope, you can still get entangled. I see often divers. trying to get their reel sorted at the surface when waiting for the boat with a lot of slack.

Keeping tension on the line after you deploy and as you surface remains an important issue. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[scubaozy]

Ouch! Pray that her recovery goes well.

I was on Maldives Aggressor 2 last month (17-24 December 2023). Here’s my last dive video, near the Male airport in a dive site called Shark Tank.

It happened in the Victory wreck, not in Fish tank. I did dive it few times nice dive.
At least Male is nearby hopefully victim was transported to the hospital quickly.

 

[Searcaigh]

Why was the prop engaged with divers near.

Many reasons including the boat moving to pick up divers, kinda normal where I dive and the engines only go into neutral when the boat stops to allow divers to climb up the ladder.

We also don't know how many crew were on the Dhoni, again where I dive there is usually only one guy who drives the boat and helps the first divers onto the boat, he doesnt have 360* vision.

I can see that if the boat is moving towards some surfaced divers and someone shoots a DSMB behind the boat then the line could get caught up in the prop. One of the rules when shooting a DSMB is to check above you, perhaps that was ignored.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Why was the prop engaged with divers near... unless she had a full spool of line out that was taken up by the prop as the boat got near to pick her up, but still.

In my experience, it's pretty common for the boat driver to be maneuvering with engines when picking up or dropping divers, particularly in a mothership/tender style LOB, or if they're maneuvering around other boats, reefs, obstructions, etc..

I just assume that the engine is always running, the operator does not know where I am, and the props could spin up at any time.

I'm sure the boat handler is devastated as well. It's a terrible accident, but an accident nonetheless.

 

[tarponchik]

On the first dive on a LOB each diver has to deploy their SMB to show the guide that they know how to use it.

Did not happen in our case.

 

[MidOH]

Why was the prop engaged with divers near... unless she had a full spool of line out that was taken up by the prop as the boat got near to pick her up, but still.

To keep the boat off the shore. Many of the boats I've been on were under power and pointed away from shore.

We just surfaced behind the boat.



I wonder if she just lost control because of the dsmb, and came up into the prop.