Wreck diver dragged down and pinned - False Pass, Alaska

[DandyDon]

Diver dragged to seafloor by dislodged wreckage off Alaska Peninsula

A man diving on a wreck about nine miles northeast of False Pass at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula was injured Thursday when a piece of the wreckage dragged him more than 50 feet down to the seafloor, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The diver, who was not identified, freed himself and surfaced before he was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard said. A video of the hoist into the helicopter shows the man able to move and apparently not badly hurt.

He was diving in about 10 feet of water when a piece of the wreck broke free and pinned him to the seafloor at a depth of about 65 feet for several minutes, according to Coast Guard public information officer Nate Littlejohn.

A dive master aboard the tender Makushin Bay reported the accident around 1:50 p.m., the Coast Guard said. The diver was described as bleeding from the nose, with possible left-side injuries.


A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew out of Air Station Kodiak happened to be in nearby Cold Bay on a "non-maritime" medical transport of a possible stroke patient in Sandpoint, Littlejohn said. The helicopter dropped off the patient and then picked up the diver and brought him to the clinic in Cold Bay.

He had been released as of Friday, a clinic staffer said.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Glad he survived. Wrecks can be unpredictable

 

[RTC'83]

I am intrigued by wrecks, but agree they are dangerous

 

[clownfishsydney]

Wrecks, generally, are not dangerous. I have never heard of any incident like this before.

 

[ofg-1]

Glad he is OK, but wasn't this an episode of Sea Hunt?

 

[dberry]

Wrecks, generally, are not dangerous. I have never heard of any incident like this before.

Wrecks are pretty much in a constant state of decay, but one has to be very unlucky to be underneath a piece of steel at the exact time it succumbs to gravity. (Unless you're whacking something with a big hammer or using a cutting torch). I think Andy Davis, the fellow who teaches tech / wreck classes out of Subic Bay, posted a harrowing account of getting temporarily trapped when a steel plate shifted on a wreck. Wrong place, wrong time.

 

[Brilig]

I dove the Friars Craig in Barbados in November of 1985 and I remember swimming in the pilot house door and swimming the entire length of the ship through the interior passages and out the other end.
I just looked at a recent video and it's nothing but a pile of rubble. Piece by piece all that steel fell.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Wrecks are pretty much in a constant state of decay, but one has to be very unlucky to be underneath a piece of steel at the exact time it succumbs to gravity. (Unless you're whacking something with a big hammer or using a cutting torch). I think Andy Davis, the fellow who teaches tech / wreck classes out of Subic Bay, posted a harrowing account of getting temporarily trapped when a steel plate shifted on a wreck. Wrong place, wrong time.

Yes have heard of someone having a small piece of wreck block or fall on them, but nothing like this one.

 

[CT-Rich]

I am not a wreck diver, but I believe Chris Rouse’s death was partially caused by a cabinet collapsing on him inside the U-who. He was able to get out from under it, but a series of mistakes led to fatal case of the bends. Wreck are in a permanent march to oblivion, so that it happens like this occasionally is almost inevitable.

 

[rjk75]

I, too, have never heard of this happening and have always observed wrecks from the outside, but now, I guess with the constant wave action and rusted panels, etc., Murphy's Law takes over.