British teen dead - Wakatobi, Indonesia

[Phil_C]

A sad event, but so far we know very little information beyond that he apparently panicked and died. It isn't clear from the article whether this was a discover scuba type dive, where neither person was qualified and a panicked response to something going wrong could possibly be expected, or whether either father or son or both were actually OW qualified.

You would expect that with only a 'DM' leading in open water they were at least OW qualified, but unfortunately I have regularly seen try dives and discover scuba experiences in some locations run in open water by DM's, and well outside of agency standards.

Phil

 

[boulderjohn]

A sad event, but so far we know very little information beyond that he apparently panicked and died. It isn't clear from the article whether this was a discover scuba type dive, where neither person was qualified and a panicked response to something going wrong could possibly be expected, or whether either father or son or both were actually OW qualified.

Most people acting as DMs are actually instructors. In a major dive resort, you would have a hard time getting a job as a DM if you were not already an instructor.

Panic is a strange thing, and it can be caused by many things. An interesting aspect of this is the fact that he discarded his regulator when he panicked. It seems like a curious thing to do under water, but it can happen if part of the diver's sense of panic includes the mistaken belief that the regulator is not working. That illusion can be created by a carbon dioxide buildup, which is actually the triggering mechanism for most panic episodes. In this case, the diver feels as if the regulator is not delivering air when it is actually working just fine.

Why would carbon dioxide build up during a dive?

• It can happen because of circulation problems. My nephew's mother-in-law panicked and discarded her regulator because she had suffered a heart attack and was no longer circulating blood, leading to both a lack of oxygen and the carbon dioxide buildup that triggered the panic and the sense the regulator was not working.
• It can happen if you stop breathing. People do that sometimes, especially when concentrating. I had a student do it the first time we went to the deep end of the pool. He had a lot of trouble equalizing. I was right next to him trying to help when he suddenly threw his regulator away and started to claw his way to the surface. On the surface, he said he was prone to panic attacks when he is concentrating on something difficult. He was surprised when I told him he had thrown his regulator away. I asked him if he held his breath when concentrating and explained the role of CO2 in panic attacks. It was a revelation to him, and he ended the class not only a confident diver but also confident that he would no longer be prone to those attacks. Similarly, when I took lessons for citizen ski racing, they emphasized continuous breathing, saying that many inexperienced racers would hold their breath through the entire race.
• It can happen if you are not breathing properly. When some divers are feeling nervous, their breathing gets very shallow, and they neither get enough oxygen nor expel enough CO2. The mounting CO2 starts the onset of panic, and they get more nervous and breathe even more shallowly. this is the panic cycle, and it will continue until either the diver takes a good, long cleansing breath or goes into full blown panic.
• It can be caused by skip breathing. Divers who hold their breaths for extended periods of time in order to make gas last longer can have problems with CO2 buildup. Yes, some accomplished divers do indeed skip breathe, but they only do it to a lesser extent and with the knowledge that they must get rid of that CO2 at times.

 

[Altamira]

* I think you meant to have the word not there.

Yes Don, that is what I meant, and thank you for catching the typo, which I have corrected.

 

[Phil_C]

Most people acting as DMs are actually instructors. In a major dive resort, you would have a hard time getting a job as a DM if you were not already an instructor.

Hi John,

Sadly whilst this may be the case in the US and UK that is certainly not the case where I often dive in Turkey and Cyprus. In my personal experience I have regularly witnessed unqualified divers being taken in the sea for 'try' dives and even boat dives by people holding a 'questionable' DM certificate at most.

I fully agree with you comments on CO2 buildup though, and have seen this in person, it sounds counter intuitive but I have talked to divers who have panicked and discarded their correctly functioning regulator at depth because they thought it was not working and they could not breathe.

Interestingly in the video clip above you see the girl, when she is on the surface, pulling her neck seal away from her throat as if to help her get more air in.

Best - Phil.

 

[admikar]

I would like to know why beginner divers panic & do such drastic move against what they have been thought not to do in the OW class. If anyone who has gone through such situation & survived, please share your story here.

Difference between fear and panic is that you can still think in fear mode, panic not so much. Panic is "irrational" mode.
Never had panicked while SCUBA,yet, but I can tell a story from my flying experience.
I was already a certified pilot.
We went to a fly-in, but a front moved in sooner then anticipated. While returning to home airfield, I experienced wind so strong,that almost stopped my progress over ground.
On final approach, I was so scared from a crosswind and resulting turbulence, that I almost froze on controls. It means I almost panicked. If that happened I would become a statistic right there and then. Then I managed to get one rational thought:"yes, it is windy, and airplane is jumping all over the place, but I AM STILL IN CONTROL. I have plenty of fuel, so, try to land. If unsuccessful, divert to an international airport, with emergency services, into wind runway and no turbulence."
That one thought, calmed me so much that I performed a perfect landing.
Why I almost panicked? I do not know. I was trained to control that airplane, and to fight crosswind, and, most importantly, to make a decision when to abort. There was no reason for my brain to almost shut down. But, it did just that. Reason I survived , IMO, is as much luck as it is a rational thought.

 

[boulderjohn]

Why I almost panicked?

My guess is that when things got hairy, you held your breath.

 

[BoltSnap]

Sadly whilst this may be the case in the US and UK that is certainly not the case where I often dive in Turkey and Cyprus. In my personal experience I have regularly witnessed unqualified divers being taken in the sea for 'try' dives and even boat dives by people holding a 'questionable' DM certificate at most.

I don't know about PADI's discover scuba standards and who is qualified under PADI's system to teach it but here in Libya, it is PADI AI/DM's that often (almost always actually) teach it without an instructor present.

 

[Dogbowl]

I've had 2 instances of increasing feelings of anxiety, then fear, while diving just short of panic. For me, it was slow, slow, slow, then almost uncontrollable.

The first time was while diving Dos Ojos Barbie line for the first time. There was a traffic jam in the cenote and things were moving slowly, if at all. My mask was fogging up, then I entered a darker part of the cenote. My mask continued to fog to a point where I could no longer see my guide in front of me, nor anything for that matter. I thought about taking my mask off and clearing the fog. Then I got scared. I started to feel increasingly fearful and knew that panic was about to set in if I did not act quickly. I decided to abort, indicating the urgent need to ascend to my guide by making the signal with my light. He noticed ASAP. I indicated "up" with my fingers. He took my hand and led me up a passageway to an open cavern. I stripped off my mask like a maniac, spit out my reg and gulped big breaths. Several minutes later, I was fine again.

The second time was recently on an ocean dive. I was underweighted and the DM wanted to add 2 lbs to my tank. He was adding weight to my tank from the back. Because the current was somewhat strong, he indicated to my husband to hold me from the front. So, I was sandwiched in between the chests of two men. I felt claustrophobic. I felt sick. All of a sudden I could not breathe. I felt the same fear coming on. Soon to be panic. I thought about pushing my husband away. Why was it taking them so long??? Then both released their grip on me. After 10 minutes, I needed to abort the dive anyways cause I felt like vomiting.

I guess panic for some comes out of one triggering event, snowballs, and can get out of control fast. When I read the story, I kind of felt how it could've happened.

 

[buddhasummer]

Losing your child would have to be one of, if not, the saddest most tragic things that can happen to a parent. I have no idea how one recovers from that, perhaps you never do. I don't want to find out. Heart felt condolences to the family. Just tragic...

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't know about PADI's discover scuba standards and who is qualified under PADI's system to teach it but here in Libya, it is PADI AI/DM's that often (almost always actually) teach it without an instructor present

In open water, it has to be an instructor.