I'm happy to report the victim made a complete recovery after a 5 hour chamber ride, assorted tests (CT, Chest X-Ray, Neuro-exam, etc) and an overnight stay to be sure.
All details are not available yet, but I can state this:
1. Victim became unresponsive shortly after entering the water.
2. Crew noticed her descending without her buddy (who was still on deck kitting up) and put out a call for assistance. There were other divers on the surface and they were entreated to go down after her. At least one was able to do so.
3. There were also divers already underwater at approx 80fsw (bottom). Due to the excellent visibility, all four divers (two groups of two) saw the victim descending down through the water column head-first, "rag-doll-style". They witnessed her strike the bottom head-first. Three of the divers (all rescue-trained) made their way immediately to her while the fourth diver made his way to the surface to call for help.
4. The three divers brought the victim to the surface and called for help. They were approx 10 yards from the boat's swim step.
5. The victim was brought aboard, an assessment was performed (unresponsive, non-breathing, lips blue, and blood coming out of mouth), and CPR was immediately initiated. Boat captain initiated a call to the Coast Guard.
6. O2 was called for as well as the AED. I believe they were already being retrieved as the call went out for it.
7. After approx 2-3 minutes of CPR, rescuers detected faint breaths coming from victim. Breaths were determined to not be "death rattle" and breathing increased slightly in strength over the next couple of minutes. O2 was applied during this time as well.
8. AED pads applied for insurance. Victim was rolled onto her left side.
9. Victim began moaning.
10. Victim began crying out in pain.
11. A doctor was onboard and victim was turned over to her care.
12. Coast Guard notified boat captain that helicopter was on it's way from San Diego.
13. Victim was able to open eyes, nod her head in response to a question, and remained in a semi-responsive state for the duration.
14. Victim was picked up and transported to CG Station, San Diego and then transported to UCSD Hillcrest.
15. Victim was taken for a chamber ride and reported to have become extremely lucid once she was at depth.
16. Upon reaching port (about 5 1/2 hours later), her buddy and some passengers went to UCSD Hillcrest. She had just come out of a CT scan, was sitting up in her bed, was responsive, emotional... and could remember nothing of the day except "waking up" in the chamber.
She was released from UCSD Hillcrest Sunday afternoon.
I know many of you will have additional questions, but I won't have much more for you. Causality will be investigated to be sure, but unless she regains any memory of the incident, we may never know exactly why this happened. I have my suspicions, but I'll keep those to myself.
We read so many of these incidents wherein the victim did not survive. I'm so happy to share with you all this one had a happy ending.