Diver Death in Cayman

[fisheyeview]

What kind of safetry stop did this guy do -how long, how many? How long did this dive take, bounce at 310 and surface?

Bounce to 310' followed by an ascent to 60'.

10 minutes at 60'
10 minutes at 40'
10 minutes at 30'
30 minutes at 15'

By the time he finished his stop at 40' his computered cleared deco, but we made him hang anyway.

 

[fisheyeview]

I have learned, and Op confirms, Brendan, deceased diver, was found with his weights still attached -16 lbs. None of this is making any sense to me? How could he have hit 346 ft and then back to surface so quickly, and be dead on surface? What am I missing?

Had he inflated at depth, and started to rise, he would eventually have been rocketing up.

 

[pilot fish]

Bounce to 310' followed by an ascent to 60'.

10 minutes at 60'
10 minutes at 40'
10 minutes at 30'
30 minutes at 15'

By the time he finished his stop at 40' his computered cleared deco, but we made him hang anyway.

Oh, this was not on one tank. oops. Still not wise.

 

[pilot fish]

Had he inflated at depth, and started to rise, he would eventually have been rocketing up.

nah, we discussed that already. He would not have had the presence of mind to do that, he would be very impaired, and why would he not have done that at 200 ft, 250 ft? Puzzling.

 

[fisheyeview]

Oh, this was not on one tank. oops. Still not wise.

He was stupid as #$%^ if you ask me. I don't dive with him anymore.

 

[Web Monkey]

I have learned, and Op confirms, Brendan, deceased diver, was found with his weights still attached -16 lbs. None of this is making any sense to me? How could he have hit 346 ft and then back to surface so quickly, and be dead on surface? What am I missing?

It's easy enough.

Drop down to "see what's there", check your air pressure, see that there isn't much left, say "Oh ****!" and wail on the inflator button.

I can think of a bunch of ways to die on the way up, or at the surface after a too-fast ascent from that deep.

Unfortunately, this is all just guessing. A computer log would show what actually happened.

Terry

 

[pilot fish]

He was stupid as #$%^ if you ask me. I don't dive with him anymore.

smart man. I don't blame you

 

[pilot fish]

Let me see if I understand this and why I think it happened a different way.

He was at 197 ft at 14 minutes and less than a minute later at 207 ft. He then plunges, drifts, to 347 ft, bouncing off downward slop. He does not hit infltor then. He is narc'd silly and has 02 build up and co2 build up, brand new diver. He then becomes alert enough to hit button at 346 ft?. nah. Keep in mind, he still had all his weigfhts attached. Makes no sense. nah

It's easy enough.

Drop down to "see what's there", check your air pressure, see that there isn't much left, say "Oh ****!" and wail on the inflator button.

I can think of a bunch of ways to die on the way up, or at the surface after a too-fast ascent from that deep.

Unfortunately, this is all just guessing. A computer log would show what actually happened.

Terry

 

[Riger]

Assumptions and Speculations follow....

The effects of Nitrogen Narcosis & Oxygen Toxicity are known to have different effects on different people. There are people that have been exposed to PPO₂ of beyond 2 and experienced little/no effect of Oxygen Toxicity.

It may be as simple as this guy getting sufficiently disoriented (narked) and genuinely ending up at that depth before he realised how deep he was before hitting the inflator button.

One has to assume that an ascent rate that gets him from 340'+ to the surface in 2 minutes must, in and of itself, pose enough risk to life irrespective of other circumstances or events.

Clearly we can divide this accident into a few distinctive areas;

1. Choice of site and apparent non-leadership role of DG/DM.
2. Poor individual pre-dive checks from most of the group (OP & buddy excluded)
3. How Brendan became separated from Group
4. How Brendan got to 346'
5. What mechanism triggered the rapid ascent
6. The physiological impact of the rapid ascent.

It goes without saying that during the sequence of events, there were many opportunities for this accident to have been averted, corrective action at any of the earlier events listed above would/could have nullified the remainder of the events.

Additionally, I am sure one could (and someone will) add to this list.

Best Regards
Richard

 

[Riger]

Unfortunately, this is all just guessing. A computer log would show what actually happened.

Terry

I agree Terry.

The computer profile (and possibly the one from the DM/DG's computer as a comparison in the early stages of the dive) is the single biggest piece of information that is missing from this thread.

Best Regards
Richard