Crews search for missing diver near Huntington Beach oil rig

[azstinger11]

Per some facebook postings, the diver was found and had passed. No other details at this time.

https://oltnews.com/crews-search-for-missing-diver-near-huntington-beach-oil-rig-ocregister?fbclid=IwAR15ipYR3qz5H8T9vM_FocGUY0l5TJYwHZZTbm2q8AAce3-jy7Sl-olurzE

 

[DandyDon]

Sorry, we were posting at the same time. I'll report mine to be deleted.

Several sites reported on the search, but this one has the outcome

12ft

A diver who went missing in waters about five miles from Huntington Beach on Sunday morning, Jan. 16, was found dead that evening.

Search crews spent hours combing the area surrounding an offshore oil processing facility known as platform Elly, U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a Tweet. The missing person was described as a commercial diver, Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Brian Fisk said.

The Coast Guard asked the LBFD and other local agencies to help them look for the diver shortly after 11:30 a.m., Fisk said. The person was found dead after an hours-long search, Coast Guard officials said.

The body pulled from the ocean was handed over to Los Angeles County Coroner’s officials Sunday evening, Coast Guard officials said. That person’s identity was not made public Sunday evening.

Further information was not immediately available.

 

[azstinger11]

Sorry, we were posting at the same time. I'll report mine to be deleted.

Several sites reported on the search, but this one has the outcome

12ft

Thanks for the updated post! It is interesting they are reporting the deceased as a commercial diver. There were two recreational dive boats out on the rigs today as well.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@azstinger11
Professional diver often refers to a certain type of UW instructor--- who considers themselves as "Professional"

question ?
What was the name of the two dive boats?
Might offer a clue
'
SDM

 

[Esprise Me]

I'm pretty sure the person from the fire department who said he was a commercial diver just misspoke. I have heard via Facebook chatter that the victim was an older male recreational diver on one of two charters that were out that day. I'm curious about that last part, because I was actually booked on the Pacific Moon dive boat through Pacific Wilderness to dive the rigs yesterday, but the boat was canceled the day before due to an issue with the compressor. I had looked to see if there was another rigs trip I could get on last-minute, and saw that Ocean Safari had also chartered the Giant Stride to go to the rigs, but it didn't look like they were selling individual spots--they had only listed the price for 6 divers. I couldn't find any other boats going, though of course it could have been a private charter.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Nvm I think I might be wrong.

 

[JimHawkins]

The deceased diver had been aboard the Sundiver Express. There was another dive boat there too (Giant Stride I think).

Him and his dive buddy got separated, but that wasn't unusual for them. They had planned to descend down near recreational limits and shuck rock scallops until they started to get low on gas (nitrox) or near NDL.

He was a very experienced diver in his 60s who had dove the rigs and took scallops many times before.

The only theories about what might have gone wrong for him that I heard discussed were a medical issue (eg heart attack) or oxygen toxicity if maybe his nitrox mix was richer than he thought or he just went a little too deep for his mix (or both).
Edit: it was also theorized that he might've hit his head on a crossbar of the rig structure because there was significant up/down swell at times.

 

[DandyDon]

Since it's a southern California State incident, maybe Ken K can give us a cause later on.

 

[LaJollaShoresDiver]

I was on the boat. There were roughly 20 divers and 4 crew on the Sundiver. My buddy and I did a deco dive to 150'. When we returned to the Sundiver, there was a missing diver. The crew did three counts (roster and head count). The Coast Guard, Long Beach Police, LA Fire and LA Sheriff's Dept had crews on site (3 helicopters, 7 boats). The Sundiver participated in the search. At some point, it became an accident investigation. Later, about 3:30PM, the folks on the boat became aware that it was a recovery operation. During the day, we were interviewed on the boat by Sheriff's Deputies. Most of us had very little information to offer, since we were diving in separate buddy teams. The missing diver and his buddy separated, apparently casually, but were comfortable doing this. The buddy returned to the boat after about 25 minutes diving because he was low on gas. They were both on Nitrox (EAN32, I think). We still do not know what happened to the deceased diver.

There was one Coast Guard personnel onboard that interviewed the captain and perhaps the missing diver's buddy, who was kept upstairs on the boat. The Coast Guard instructed everyone to stay on the Sundiver when it returned to Seal Beach about 4:30. But there were no CG personnel when we got there and the owner told us we could leave unless we wanted to hang around. Since most of us knew nothing other than what we had already reported to the Sheriff's deputies, we all went home.

The crew was amazing and super conscientious. The captain was great. I am very sorry for the family and friends of the lost diver and for the stress experienced by the Sundiver's staff.

 

[Cadell]

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