Snorkeler pulled unconscious from the water at Scuba Club Cozumel.

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58studebaker

Registered
Messages
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Reaction score
4
Location
Calgary, Alerta
# of dives
200 - 499
At about 18:00 local time on 01/25/2014 a diver surfaced and was calling for help. He had found a snorkeler unconscious underwater. He brought him to the surface and other divers assisted with CPR. The was in a wetsuit and snorkel gear only and there didn't appear to be anyone else with him. None of the divers or groups from SCC recognized him. An ambulance came (very quickly - within 4-6 minutes of the initial call) and the EMS worked on him and took him away.

Does anyone know anyone else about this incident?


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Last edited:
Are you at SCC now? Did you witness this?
 
At about 18:00 local time a diver surfaced and was calling for help. He had found a snorkeler unconscious underwater. He brought him to the surface and other divers assisted with CPR. The was in a wetsuit and snorkel gear only and there didn't appear to be anyone else with him. None of the divers or groups from SCC recognized him. An ambulance came (very quickly - within 4-6 minutes of the initial call) and the EMS worked on him and took him away.

Does anyone know anyone else about this incident?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Ok a little more on this, and it is commentary. My commentary. It amazed me how fast things happened once the diver is out of the water. CPR was started immediately.

My one critique of the situation is that no one took control of the situation. There were a lot of divers not involved in the rescue standing around looking and quite frankly in the way. If you are not involved and assisting, stay away. i know it's human nature to see what all the commotion is about but give the divers that are performing the rescue room to work and keep a clear path for EMS and the professionals from the SCC Dive shop. Someone senior, more senior than me, needed to take control of the situation and direct traffic.

---------- Post added January 27th, 2014 at 08:55 AM ----------

I was at SCC, I and did witness this first hand but was on a flight out Saturday night.
 
I believe this was my friend. We were notified early this morning about his death, but we don't have a lot of information. Just that he died in Cozumel snorkeling. I know he would skin dive occasionally - Any information that you would share would be greatly appreciated.
 
So sorry for your loss.

You probably came here looking for some answers after an internet search. I hope you can find that. Accidents are very often discussed and dissected in detail here in an effort to learn from what has occured. That can be very painful for friends and family to read. We welcome you to join us and please understand that we mean no disrespect. We just want to learn from the past to try to prevent future accidents.
 
Since he was identified as a snorkeler, his mask & snorkel must still have been with him. Sounds to me like shallow water blackout otherwise I would expect the gear would have been separated. currents at SCC are usually light and flowing north. Hotel Cozumel would be a likely origination point.
 
According to this Por Esto article, he was stay at Scuba Club: Google Translate

That hotel is between Blue Angel and Hotel Cozumel. Some will walk south then shore dive or snorkel with the common current back to the north, some will swim into the current then ride it back to their origin, and sometimes a shore eddy will create a current the other way - changed on mid dive on me once.

Shallow water black out is a risk of free diving, I used to free dive on vacation trips for years before I got into scuba - having never heard about that risk, or he could have simply got into trouble and forgot to drop his weights if he was wearing? No mention of any other possible causes in the brief news article or the eye witness report.
 
SCC does not have a room 1126 referred to in the translated article.
 

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