Polish diver dies in world record attempt to 333m

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doctormike, I think it is trivial to see that there can be accidents happening during a record attempt that are not causally connected to the dive being a record attempt, or even very deep at all.

While this is possible, it is extremely improbable. Pretty much anything that goes wrong, that would be survivable on a 10m dive, has a very high chance to get you killed on a 300m dive.

Look at the stats of dives below 240m, incident rate and fatality rate. It’s freakin high. Look at good old Sheck Exleys top root causes for cave fatalities: excessive depth is right there.

Don’t get me wrong, I have the greatest respect for the virtues required to attempt such a dive. This includes commitment, discipline, fitness, meticulous planning, bravery not to say balls, and many more. I’m just wondering if these virtues could have been put to another use with lower fatality rate or higher benefit for society ...

On the other hand it’s human nature to push boundaries, challenge limits and try new things. Otherwise we would still be sitting on trees while chewing leaves. It’s just sometimes hard to get this in the right perspective. I mean, you could challenge how much sense there is to landing on the moon (and the fatality rate across nations to get there). In hindsight it brought quite a few technological advances. Whether scuba (taking into account the relative budgets) will do the same, we’ll see ...
 
This is accident analysis.
@doctormike - and others - are arguing that the root cause for this accident was an attempt to break the depth record for a recreational (i.e. not commercial) bounce dive.

Which is appropriate and in accordance with the Special Rules for A&I here on SB.

Special Rules for the Accidents & Incidents Forum

The purpose of this forum is the promotion of safe diving through the examination and discussion of accidents and incidents; to find lessons we can apply to our own diving.

[...]

Discussions should only be about the causes, theories and remedies for these accidents.​
 
I do not doubt that it is allowed by the rules of this forum. I just do not think it is either appropriate at this stage, or useful. While it is true that many things that will be survivable at 30m are very lethal at 300m, as so often, the inverse conclusion is not true: not all things that are lethal at 300m will be survivable at 30m, 3m, or at home in bed. I very much prefer to wait for information (need not always be an official report) before drawing conclusions.
 
If I remember correctly, Guinness World Records stopped recognizing ultra deep air diving in 2005 due to the extremely high fatality rate. The still standing record on air I believe is 155m ...

Given the high fatality rate in recent years trying to push beyond 300m (using mixed gas) makes you wonder if mankind has met the limits of physics once more and it might be time to reconsider ...?
Nope, they still do it.
Ahmed Gabr breaks record for deepest SCUBA dive at more than 1,000 feet
The 2005 record set by Nuno Gomez was broken by Ahmed Gabr. Also he was planning 350 mtrs but he stopped at 335 ...
 
So the 333.8m attempt was not for the world record then.
Reading the Guiness website you can find that the official record was 332.35 mt due to a slight ben in the guideline ...
 
Reading the Guiness website you can find that the official record was 332.35 mt due to a slight ben in the guideline ...
and still is ...
 
I fail to see the significance of this record attempt. I am terribly sorry that it lead to a loss of life.
Similarly, while not directly related to this incident, I saw no reason for the senseless deaths this year on Mt. Everest. Just because someone climbed Everest does not mean that they are good climbers.

Just sad to see lives lost.
 
Nope, they still do it.
Ahmed Gabr breaks record for deepest SCUBA dive at more than 1,000 feet
The 2005 record set by Nuno Gomez was broken by Ahmed Gabr. Also he was planning 350 mtrs but he stopped at 335 ...

Nope, they stopped recognizing deep air dives as I wrote.

The record you are referring to is a mixed gas dive, ie special breathing gas mix with lower oxygen content, lower nitrogen and additional helium vs air. 300ish meters on air is physiologically impossible, both due to oxygen toxicity and nitrogen narcosis, let alone WOB and its CO2 repercussions.
 
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