Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[pilot fish]

I keep thinking, what the hell did this lady pay for? It wasn't for UW companionship. :depressed: It was safety. She seems to have been short changed and did not get what she paid extra for.

I'm not disagreeing, all that I am saying is that competent leadership personnel should be on top of the situation and could rather easily (tank valve hold and air siphon) prevent a descent (which was the problem).

 

[InTheDrink]

At that time you would be prosecuted for negligent homicide.....

I must say I concur. I've had a few DMs discuss the use of the Up elevator button/ditching weights in rescue scenarios and I think it'd be a big risk, all round. I'm not a rescue diver but unless you are sure someone is otherwise going to die, ditching their weights and pressing level 0 is a big responsibility to take. They could easily die, or even worse, survive and sue from their wheelchair.

Just my Ž£0.02 (which is worth a lot less in the last couple of years)

 

[mrlipis]

Originally Posted by Thalassamania View Post
No, she needed to have had complete control of the situation and clearly did not. I would expect leadership level personnel to have had a hand on the tank valve or be holding hands for the entire dive, especially when not over a hard bottom.

Interesting--that's unexpected for me as a standard operating procedure for supervising a newly certified diver. I'm probably betraying my Northern California experience bias again, but I haven't seen that sort of direct control applied to new divers. How widespread is this practice and what is the experience level you would require of a diver before observing them from nearby instead of in direct contact?

I don't think Ms. Woods experience has been established here, therefore the argument of how this newly certified diver should have been handled is total speculation. Furthermore, it has not been established as to why she ended up with a personal DM. Was it the Wood's request, or was it required by the dive operation. If I have missed something here please let me know. To me, these two pieces of information are paramount in understanding what the hell happened here.

 

[jayjoans]

I have a friend that knew Mrs. Wood. Reportedly, she had a mild stroke last month. If she were predisposed to this, a stroke at depth might explain her inability or unwillingness to comply with the DM's instruction to ascend, which turned to combativeness and anger. Not to mention the possible interactions of narcosis with the medication she was likely on due to a recent stroke.

 

[scubafanatic]

I thought about that too. I have never been tasked as an underwater caretaker, my question to the professionals; "Is it unreasonable that a DM caring for a diver looks away from their charge long enough (say 30 seconds?) for them to get 7m below you?"

Best Regards
Richard

...I agree, that's a bit excessively unfair to the DM, especially since apparently we're not dealing with a diver that casually drifted down an extra 20' but who was making a determined effort to dive deep and 'lose' the DM.....situational awareness requires the DM look about and survey the whole picture...terrain...currents.....etc.....not spend every last moment looking up someone *ss !

 

[mrlipis]

Originally posted by onlyhalcyon
I am currently on vacation in the Bahamas and only joined this site after reading the posts. I am the primary witness to the dive incident involving Mrs Wood. I will post my account of what happened once I get back to NY and once the Forensic Dive Investigation team has had a chance to talk with all the people involved. I would like to say that prior to talking with the Dive Investigator I had similar views to the posts above. However what we are all missing is the DM's account of what happened. After talking with both the DM and the FDI I now have a clearer understanding of what transpired that morning.

After re-reading this post, I find a few things peculiar. He states that he is THE primary witness yet "after talking with the DM and the FDI" he has a clearer understanding of what happened.
One would think as a primary witness, he would know exactly what happened.

"I would like to say that prior to talking with the Dive Investigator I had similar views to the posts above".
He was the primary witness and had similar views?

Meg has said that NO ONE had talked to him in regards to any type of investigation. I have a gut feeling that we have seen the one and only post from Onlyhalcyon.

I hope I am wrong and we get an opportunity to hear back from him.

 

[Web Monkey]

At that time you would be prosecuted for negligent homicide.....

I would not be prosecuted for anything, since I would just drag the victim up by the tank valve.

As Thal mentioned, there's a limit to how negative a diver can become, and it's a lot less than the lift I can create with a good sized BC.

The "ditch weights and let go" was in reference to the female DM who apparently didn't feel up to the task of getting the diver back to the surface when pushed away. In that case, sending the diver up might be damaging or fatal, but allowing the victim to continue descending would be (and was) fatal.

Terry

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I have a friend that knew Mrs. Wood. Reportedly, she had a mild stroke last month. If she were predisposed to this, a stroke at depth might explain her inability or unwillingness to comply with the DM's instruction to ascend, which turned to combativeness and anger. Not to mention the possible interactions of narcosis with the medication she was likely on due to a recent stroke.

Diving one month post-stroke????? If true, even a mild stoke, this got even stranger.... wow.

Thanks for sharing this.

Best wishes.

 

[scubafanatic]

That would have been a great time to dich the victim's weights, wave goodbye and follow the ascent to the surface.

Terry

...I'll bet you, that if I wanted to kill myself and stop you from 'saving' me, I could prevent you from ditching my weights to achieve my 'mission'......also, I've got a knife too.....I don't feel a DM is required to beat me in hand-to-hand combat in order to be considered a 'good' DM...I think that's asking a bit much, don't you think ?

 

[scubafanatic]

If it was intentional, then that lends credibility to the diver ignoring/resisting the DM's attempt to get them to ascend.

If it was unintentional descent, it would seem to indicate inattentiveness or negligence on part of the DM.

...wasn't this a wall dive ??? H*ll, if bouyancy is lost or a diver panics and for whatever reason can't figure what to do to recover bouyancy, the natural survival instinct would be to fin over the the wall and grab something to keep from dropping further...then claw back up the wall...the apparent absence of such a survival instinct is mind boggling for anyone actually wanting to live !