Missouri diver sucked into drainage pipe - Texas

[DandyDon]

Missouri City man drowns in Tyler County pond - Beaumont Enterprise

A Missouri City man suited up in scuba gear drowned in the Tyler County Pond on Aug. 2, a Tyler County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.
Michael Sheffield, 57, was in the pond trying to clean out the drainage pipe when he got sucked into the pipe. With a depleted oxygen supply and unable to escape, Sheffield drowned.
Game warden deputies and EMS transported Sheffield to Tyler County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

 

[drrich2]

I wonder whether he was hired, or just a private citizen who decided to step in & fix a problem?

Richard.

 

[ianr33]

Wonder if he cleared out the blockage then got sucked in by the pressure differential?

 

[Hatul]

This is a problem to watch out for. There was a similar case I read about of a diver in very shallow water getting stuck against a drainage grate, unable to free himself and drowned.

 

[boulderjohn]

We had a similar incident here in Colorado quite a while ago, fortunately with a happier ending. The diver who got stuck in the drainage pipe in the pond fortunately had someone with him who knew what happened. This person not only contacted emergency services, he went to a friend and neighbor who owned a local scuba shop, which was then closed. The shop owner rushed to the shop and came back with a supply of tanks. They kept feeding him new tanks while they figured out what to do. Their eventually solution was to bring in a back hoe to cover up the drain exit, stop the outflow, and relieve the pressure.

This kind of work looks so easy, but it is very dangerous.

 

[AfterDark]

Many years ago I had a 2 day job as part of a crew of divers cleaning the intake screen of the Brayton Point power plant Somerset MA. You had to be a gorilla to hold onto the screen with one hand and rake the debris off the screen with the other. This was pre OSHA days. There wasn't much chance of getting sucked into the pipe although there was a hole that maybe a person could have went thru. We repaired that. If by chance one did get sucked up the pipe there was no chance of getting out. It was 150 yds long and had a really strong flow. I made $300.00 for 2 days work. That was a lot of money back then especially for a 18 year old but it was a lot of very hard work!

 

[cb5150]

Missouri City man drowns in Tyler County pond - Beaumont Enterprise

DandyDon, I find it interesting that you seem post a lot of stories in the "Accidents & Incidents" forum. Do you have a background in public safety diving...perhaps SAR, or do you just have an fascination with this sort of thing? Perhaps not much else to do up on the Llano Estacado?

 

[DandyDon]

DandyDon, I find it interesting that you seem post a lot of stories in the "Accidents & Incidents" forum. Do you have a background in public safety diving...perhaps SAR, or do you just have an fascination with this sort of thing? Perhaps not much else to do up on the Llano Estacado?

This question comes up now and then, some put worse than others. I guess I should explain in my profile maybe?

I have a few Google Alerts set up so I can learn about dive fatality news on the web, then looks to see if anyone else has already posted about them. I've learned more about safety from such stories than from rules & training.

 

[cb5150]

This question comes up now and then, some put worse than others. I guess I should explain in my profile maybe?

I have a few Google Alerts set up so I can learn about dive fatality news on the web, then looks to see if anyone else has already posted about them. I've learned more about safety from such stories than from rules & training.

I meant no disrespect. I just thought maybe you were in that line of work at one time.

The crack about west Texas was legit though. I used to live out there, but left as soon as I could. I'll take traffic, noise and crime ANY DAY over scorpions, dust storms, snakes, scorpions, drought, cactus and scorpions.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

One of our part-time patient attendants is a public safety diver. He was searching for a weapon one day and found a drainage pipe at about 33' at the bottom of a 1920s era dam/spillway. He had a good light and fortunately noticed the silt getting sucked in before he got caught himself. There were no drawings available, and the team later had to put dye into the drain to find the discharge, which was in a river some distance away.