Haigh Quarry Accident on Oct 2, 2010

[jbiddlecome]

We were diving with my nephew yesterday at Haigh Quarry in Illinois when a young man was brought to the dock. He was unresponsive. The paramedics were there in a very short time and performed CPR for quite a while. After he was taken away, the chaplain told me there was still hope because the water was cold. He also said the man had plenty of air left in his tanks. There were was talk that he got separated from his group.

It was a terrible experience. If anyone has any information on his condition, please share it.

 

[nagel]

Wow!!! Same thing happened at Mermet yesterday. Watched a diver being pulled onto the dock, unresponsive. A team of First Responders administered CPR, AED, and O2. Unfortionately, he did not make it.

Snagel

 

[Byte Me]

Wow is right - was in both places just last weekend. Hopefully this man from Haigh is able to be revived.

 

[scubasaurus94]

Is there any information on the conditions at Haigh yesterday or who he was diving with? My thoughts go out to everyone at Haigh and Mermet.

 

[Neuatomic]

Oh boy. Did my OW dives there. I have no info on yesterday's conditions, but for my dives in August vis deteriorated quickly as more divers got in the water (kicking up lots of silt). Fingers crossed. Didn't find anything in the Daily-Journal.

 

[Darcey]

I was at Haigh yesterday assisting with some OW students check-out dives. I was on the dock when the diver was recovered and pulled out. I have some info but I am not sure if it is 100% correct so I will not open my mouth until I know a) it's true and b) it's okay to share. I do know and am sure it's safe to say that sadly no, he did not make it.

One thing I will say, I can NOT stress enough the importance of STAYING WITH YOUR BUDDY!!!!!!

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

One thing I will say, I can NOT stress enough the importance of STAYING WITH YOUR BUDDY!!!!!!

Very tragic indeed!!! We weren't out there this weekend, but I am shocked!

Good advice above, but that is not always possible. Viz has been 5-10ft if your lucky, and it is extremely easy to lose your buddy. Although it is easy to say to stay with your buddy, you can easily get separated. The best advice is to follow your training when you lose your buddy. Search for a minute or less and come to the surface.

Very sad....from what I heard it was a younger boy too. My heart goes out to the boy, the family, and the rescuers!!!

J Biddle...if you need to talk, you know how to get a hold of me. It is never easy seeing something like this....

 

[Darcey]

Good advice above, but that is not always possible. Viz has been 5-10ft if your lucky, and it is extremely easy to lose your buddy. Although it is easy to say to stay with your buddy, you can easily get separated. The best advice is to follow your training when you lose your buddy. Search for a minute or less and come to the surface.

This was one of those days where the viz was zippy. We had our students hold hands or hold on to a short line as to not get separated and stressed to them that if they got lost to surface, hang tight and we'd surface and find them.

I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and none of this happened. My poor instructor was there at Haigh during the last dive accident this summer. Seeing two in one year...



P.S. Mike...I can hear my drysuit calling......just need the time to drive up!:cool2:

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

This is always a sad event. I have never been to Haigh, and I am not even qualified as a DM let alone instructor. I am not able to comment on the unfortunate event.

Below are two quotes from Dive Right In Scuba and Darcey. (I will figure out how properly to post quotes shortly)

This was one of those days where the viz was zippy. We had our students hold hands or hold on to a short line as to not get separated and stressed to them that if they got lost to surface, hang tight and we'd surface and find them.

Viz has been 5-10ft if your lucky, and it is extremely easy to lose your buddy. Although it is easy to say to stay with your buddy, you can easily get separated. The best advice is to follow your training when you lose your buddy. Search for a minute or less and come to the surface.

If vis is 5-10ft when you are lucky this could be a challenging place to dive. At 5ft, you have about two arms lengths of vis. I have a question as to whether the agencies set minimum safe conditions in which you can conduct an OW check out dives? It would seem to be a sensible thing to do, but I can see issues as conditions can be wildly different. Can anyone confirm whether there are rules as to doing a first check out dive in 5ft vis?

I point out that at this stage we do not know if the diver involved was on a course or not and therefore this may not have direct relevance here.

 

[Darcey]

If vis is 5-10ft when you are lucky this could be a challenging place to dive. At 5ft, you have about two arms lengths of vis. I have a question as to whether the agencies set minimum safe conditions in which you can conduct an OW check out dives? It would seem to be a sensible thing to do, but I can see issues as conditions can be wildly different. Can anyone confirm whether there are rules as to doing a first check out dive in 5ft vis?

I point out that at this stage we do not know if the diver involved was on a course or not and therefore this may not have direct relevance here.

Can I just say/ask that this be placed in a separate thread elsewhere? I think that this is a good and very valid question but I just don't feel that this should be discussed here out of respect for the diver, the family and everyone involved in the rescue as this topic could get ugly and emotionally heated, especially since many of us Midwest divers certified in poor visibility, have gone on to DM and instructor levels to train other divers in poor visibility and even pleasure dive in poor visibility.

I totally feel that accidents need to be discussed so that we may learn from them and I may be totally off here but after being there and seeing everything I just don't want this thread to get ugly and closed.

Just my 2psi.