Cave diver drowns - Jackson Blue Springs, Florida

[RedSeaDiver2]

Full disclosure, I did not know the deceased, but I was the full cave instructor of the survivor and I am friends with several friends of the deceased. We're all in shock.

Most importantly - how is the survivor doing?

 

[kensuf]

As someone who has no knowledge of anyone involved in this tragic incident, an analogy is exactly what I took away from that comment.

Given the timing, it was insensitive at best and cruel at worst. This was not the sort of accident that needed immediate dissection in the interest of public safety.

Most importantly - how is the survivor doing?

I hope you can understand when I say I'm going to refrain from answering, but put yourself in their shoes for a moment. How would you be doing?

One of my best friends drowned on June 10, 1995. I was messed up for two or three years.

 

[berndo]

I disagree. The sooner evidence and facts are gathered, the better. Time tends to have an effect on memory.

Yes, obviously gathered. Making jokes about it on an internet forum to demean the victim the day after has nothing to do with gathering facts or data. How is this disagreeing with anything I said?

Where did I say that evidence and facts shouldn't be gathered asap? Your comment as a response to mine makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[The Chairman]

I hope you can understand when I say I'm going to refrain from answering, but put yourself in their shoes for a moment. How would you be doing?

Tragedy affects us all differently. When my son died years ago, I resented those who came up and told me "I know what you're going through." No. No the eff you don't.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

Anyway it's a shame that someone had to die. I lost my wife a year ago on Memorial Day weekend in a plane crash. I saw her burn to death. She was my favorite cave diving buddy.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[billgraham]

Most importantly - how is the survivor doing?

That is the most intelligent question asked on this entire thread.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

I hope you can understand when I say I'm going to refrain from answering, but put yourself in their shoes for a moment. How would you be doing?

I think that we all understand that they aren't going to be doing cartwheels down the street at the moment, would your assessment be "about as well as can be expected"?

Is he/she getting the support that they need - both from the dive community and counsellors etc?

Please convey from all of us that he/she certainly did all that could be expected of them in the circumstances, and that we are all glad that they made the decision to return to the surface when they did to avoid a double tragedy - please reassure them that it was the right and only decision.

 

[nadwidny]

Unfortunately there will never be an answer to how to prevent this.

 

[kensuf]

I think that we all understand that they aren't going to be doing cartwheels down the street at the moment, would your assessment be "about as well as can be expected"?

Is he/she getting the support that they need - both from the dive community and counsellors etc?

Please convey from all of us that he/she certainly did all that could be expected of them in the circumstances, and that we are all glad that they made the decision to return to the surface when they did to avoid a double tragedy - please reassure them that it was the right and only decision.

Yes, yes and will do. Thanks.

 

[John the Pom]

As long as basic facts are known like in this case then I don't see any need to wait any longer. In this case we know the basic facts - cave divers in a cave, one on a rebreather - who wedged himself into a restriction so badly that neither he nor his buddy could free him, and the buddy made the correct decision to leave the victim. There isn't a lot to speculate on as it is reasonably clear what the basic problem was.

As someone from another country who doesn't know the people or locations involved, I don't feel like I know much about this accident at all from reading this thread.

Two people were diving in a cave, one of them on a Sidewinder CCR. This person was a man of larger build, and he became wedged in a restriction and sadly passed away before he could free himself or be rescued. His buddy had to make the difficult, but correct, decision to save himself and avoid a double tragedy.

Many questions.

The deceased diver was, apparently, following a line, but not a permanent line - so the divers were exploring, or off piste, to some degree. But someone had been that way already. So, someone of smaller build, possibly with their gear in a different configuration, had passed the restriction to lay the line. Had it been communicated to the divers involved in the accident that the line passed through a very narrow restriction? That would have been useful information to know, and maybe made the diver approach it more cautiously. If he didn't know then, even though he was certified to do this dive, did he have the experience to properly assess an unfamiliar hazard like this?

Or had the line moved into a narrower section of the passageway? Such things have happened.

The buddy was entrance side of the accident, so I think he was following behind, and this was their first attempt to pass the restriction. But that isn't clear at all.

At the point when the diver became wedged, that was an incident, but not an uncommon one. With a CCR, he would have had plenty of time to solve the problem and free himself, or maybe even be rescued. But, for some reason I haven't seen explained, he had bailed out of the CCR and was breathing on a regular OC reg. Worse, he was unable to access his full air supply, and drowned with a full tank, presumably unable to access the reg attached to that tank. How did he get into such a dangerous situation?

That's just a couple of obvious questions.

Without that sort of level of detail, then there is no way to analyse the accident at the level required to assess what might have been done to prevented a simple mistake escalating into a tragedy.