Diver missing in Ontario

[DandyDon]

From Scuba diver goes missing in Ontario river - Canada - Canoe.ca

SARNIA, Ont. – Rescue crews searched the St. Clair River in Sarnia, Ont., for a missing diver on Monday, to no avail.

Three recreational scuba divers entered the river near the Blue Water Bridge at 2:45 p.m. ET, presumably to look at shipwrecks, said Const. Chrystal Jones.

“Two of those divers came up a short time later, but one of the male divers is still unaccounted for,” she said.

Provincial and county cops, firefighters and the Canadian and U.S. coast guards all had vessels searching Monday night, Jones said, with dive teams, a helicopter and search vessels involved in the effort.

“They’ll be out here as long as they can tonight,” Jones said Monday evening. “Once it gets too dark, they’ll likely pull off the water later tonight and will resume in the morning when conditions are safe.”

Dozens of people lined the shoreline under the bridge as responders searched.

No more information was available about the divers.

“We’re not sure that next of kin has been contacted yet that’s why we’re not going into any specifics right now,” Jones said.

More information will be released as it becomes available, she said.

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

Not good to hear this. I dive this location fairly regularly and the weather we've been having lately would likely have had a very adverse impact on the visibility. Throw in some pretty strong and at times, unpredictable, currents and I can only question how wise the decision to do this dive would have been. Hopefully he is just downriver somewhere sitting on the shore trying to figure out how to start walking back.

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

According to the Detroit Free Press - an instructor plus 2 students ... it looks like a tragedy but if it turns out to be OW students ... I'll be speechless

Canadian and U.S. rescuers continue to search for a diver missing from near the Blue Water Bridge since Monday afternoon.

An instructor and two students went into the Canadian side of the St. Clair River near the Blue Water Bridge Monday afternoon, and only two of the three men resurfaced, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Justin Westmiller said today.

Constable Chrystal Jones, spokeswoman for the Ontario Provincial Police, said today that investigators are still trying to contact the man's family as the search moves into a recovery mode.

After receiving a call at 2:45 p.m. Monday, rescuers from the Provincial Police -- Ontario's version of the state police -- the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, the U.S. Coast Guard and a local Canadian fire department searched the area until dark for the diver, she said. Personnel aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from Detroit and boat from Port Huron assisted, Westmiller added.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

A guy I dive with is a volunteer with the coast guard in Point Edward. He said they were going to do the barge-Monarch drift and he disappeared between the shore and the barge. They were told it was 2 experienced divers and a new diver, and it was the new diver that is missing. They were from Ken's Dive Locker in London

 

[Mark Derail]

A guy I dive with is a volunteer with the coast guard in Point Edward. He said they were going to do the barge-Monarch drift and he disappeared between the shore and the barge. They were told it was 2 experienced divers and a new diver, and it was the new diver that is missing. They were from Ken's Dive Locker in London

Wow...so close to home. Don't be surprised if Ontario instigates it's own version of the Quebec FQAS.

Gut wrencher this story is.

I've done 4 drift dives in the St-Lawrence so far, near Valleyfield. The first time we didn't hold on the the buoy chain, came back up, and the current was so strong a boat had to fetch us. A current w/o gear I would have had Zero Problems swimming back to the boat.

 

[Ayisha]

Don't be surprised if Ontario instigates it's own version of the Quebec FQAS.

Well, I hope not.

I still haven't heard anything about the crews finding him...

 

[CharestDiver]

Yeah i heard that the diver is from Ingersol and is 48 years old what i heard is the 3 divers were going down the the steel wall before heading to the barge just before heading out one of the divers had ear clearing problems so one of the other divers told the new diver to wait at the wall while the other 2 went up to fix the ear problem and when they went back down to the wall the other diver that was waiting at the wall was gone so he might have panicked and got swept down the river with no experience with diving in the river and not knowing what to do in the situation well i wish to express my condolences to the family for their loss

 

[Ayisha]

If that's true, that is really a shame. All buddies should stay together from the entry to the exit. If one goes up, everyone goes up. In these tragedies, we often hear that the buddies were separated, sometimes intentionally, even for moments or minutes. That's all it takes...

We also need to remember to dive in conditions the same or better than in which we were trained.

My condolences to the victim's family and friends.

 

[DandyDon]

I used to be hesitant about this discussion but that has backfired a few times. Now with a buddy I explain: We enter together, descend together, stay together, ascend together, SS together, surface together, and leave the hole or climb the boat as close to as together as possible - no separating at all, agreed or I'll just dive solo. That's been my plan with anyone since.

 

[DandyDon]

Recovered: Body recovered from river | London | News | London Free Press

An adult male body has been found in the St. Clair River, Lambton OPP say.

Police were assisted by members of the Point Edward Fire Department around 9 a.m., Sunday, where the body was recovered south of the Blue Water Bridge.

Rescue crews had been searching the river since Monday after 48-year-old Wilnelmus Bardoel from Ingersoll failed to resurface while scuba diving with two other males.

A post mortem examination is expected to take place at London Health Sciences on Monday.

Further information will be released pending positive identification and next of kin notification.