Diver Hospitalized - Key Largo Florida

[DandyDon]

Diver hospitalized after problem in the water

A U.S. Coast Guard boat carried a 40-year-old woman to shore Sunday after she had trouble breathing follow a dive off Key Largo.

The woman was diving from the Phoenix, a boat working from the Silent World Dive Center. She surfaced from her dive and reported shortness of breath.

The dive crew provided oxygen for the woman while the Coast Guard dispatched a boat from its Islamorada station.

The diver was taken by the Coast Guard to shore and transferred to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. "She was last reported to be in stable condition," a Coast Guard statement says.

The woman's name and details of the dive were not available.

 

[archer1960]

Small lung over-expansion, maybe? Enough to cause some damage, but not enough to kill..

 

[iamrushman]

best wishes for her and her family....keep us informed.

 

[Sanyssil]

I have been on that boat. I have been diving with a different buddy team, so all my reports are second hand - but directly from the incident.

The trip was a planned double dip on the Spiegel Grove. We moored on the stern buoy on the very far port side of the Spiegel. We followed the mooring line down to the wreck - there was literally no current going, we could free descend down which was nice for a change.Quickly the groups spread out in different directions. We decided to dive 'shallow' across to the super structure and explore the inside on the starboard side up to the bow then return through the port side back to the mooring line. Diving a 29% Nitrox we were back on the boat after a 40 minutes relaxed dive - just to come up to the unfolding of a rapid ascend emergency.

Here the report from the victims dive group members and her buddy:

The victim was diving in a group of 6 or 8 divers, paired into buddy teams. According to a woman out of her diving group the victim signaled her after the descend and only a few minutes into the dive that she had problems breathing. She showed her the pressure gauge which indicated 1800 PSI left. Not being aware of the stressed situation of the victim, she tried to ensure the victim that she has plenty of air left to finish the dive with the group.
The victim then signaled her buddy that she is not OK and that she wants to abort the dive. She was already in a state of stress so that she and her buddy started the ascent on the nearest mooring line, which was the one at the starboard side at the crane of the Spiegel Grove. According to her buddy they made an ascent hand-over-hand following up the mooring line, when suddenly at 30 feet the victim lost grab of the mooring line and entered an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. Another dive boat at that mooring buoy immediately pulled her out of the water and administered 100% oxygen (constant flow). After quickly evaluating the situation, the coast guard was called in to evacuate the victim, as all boats still had divers in the water. The victim was conscious and talking on the boat the full time, but very weak and stressed out. It only took a few minutes until the coast guard arrived at the scene and the victim was transferred to the coast guard vessel. The coast guard was then speeding her to shore where an ambulance was awaiting them and transported her to the Mariners Hospital in Tavernier.

Obviously, our second dip got cancelled and we headed back to the dive center. Back at the dive center her Buddy reported that she was undergoing a first evaluation by a doctor and the statement was: 'She is fine, walking and talking, she will fully recover.'

 

[Kevrumbo]

Good news for the patient (and good info to know):

Hyperbaric Medicine
Mariners has the only hospital-based hyperbaric chamber in the Florida Keys and is used to treat many illnesses and injuries:

Hyperbaric Medicine| Mariners Hospital

 

[DandyDon]

According to her buddy they made an ascent hand-over-hand following up the mooring line, when suddenly at 30 feet the victim lost grab of the mooring line and entered an uncontrolled ascent to the surface.

All too easy to happen. Diver adds air to BC at depth to compensate for buoyancy loss from compression on air already in BC, then on ascent the air expands increasing buoyancy - which would normally be released as needed to control ascent, but working up a line by hand, the need could be missed - especially as she was already stressed. Great that she received such good rescue and treatment.

 

[diver 85]

All too easy to happen. Diver adds air to BC at depth to compensate for buoyancy loss from compression on air already in BC, then on ascent the air expands increasing buoyancy

IMO, not if you're trained properly........but, these things may not be taught these days??.......Ditto on the 'good rescue and treatment' part also........

 

[clownfishsydney]

Sounds a lot like scuba diver's pulmonary edema, hard to breath thinking out of air. I am glad this had a good outcome.

 

[archer1960]

IMO, not if you're trained properly........but, these things may not be taught these days??.......Ditto on the 'good rescue and treatment' part also........

Those things are taught "these days", but if something is going wrong, it is very easy for an inexperienced diver to forget things from their training that under calmer conditions they would remember and perform properly.

 

[diver 85]

Those things are taught "these days", but if something is going wrong, it is very easy for an inexperienced diver to forget things from their training that under calmer conditions they would remember and perform properly.

Very true....we were taught to ALWAYS 'kill'(stop) your stop watch(ie BT over) and 'dump ' BC air before making your(final) ascent----ALWAYS.....My lil acronym(hey--an acronym before acronyms were cool ) was AT--A for air T for time, worked EVERY time even under Heat-of-battle/bun-sweating times---& I still use it today ie I carry & USE a stopwatch on every dive....Bet they're not taught to 'kill' the watch 'these days'....