(05 JUN 05) Missing diver at Whytecliff

[Daryl Morse]

Kirk actually searched for more than 1 minute. It wasn't just a case of getting separated in bad viz. He knew his buddy was in trouble and he made every effort and risked his own life to find him.

The body of the missing diver (Brayden), was found this morning by BC ferries.

Regarding what happened at the time of the accident, that's what I heard as well from two independent sources.

Apparently the body was located in the water near Passage Island, which is approximately 1.6 nm or 3 km south of Whytecliff Park.

I'm sure it's a relief for the family that Brayden was found. Hopefully it will aid the investigators to determine what happened to him.

 

[mrobinson]

Thanks for the update everyone.

 

[Henry]

Kirk actually searched for more than 1 minute. It wasn't just a case of getting separated in bad viz. He knew his buddy was in trouble and he made every effort and risked his own life to find him.

The body of the missing diver (Brayden), was found this morning by BC ferries.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there was anything done wrong by the surviving partner. Searching for 1 min and then surfacing to continue to search for bubbles and then calling the RCMP were all the right things to do.

I was only questioning the information of the survivor taking 20 min to surface which I don't think was correct.

Henry

 

[DiverDebbie]

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there was anything done wrong by the surviving partner. Searching for 1 min and then surfacing to continue to search for bubbles and then calling the RCMP were all the right things to do.

I was only questioning the information of the survivor taking 20 min to surface which I don't think was correct.

Henry

No, no... It didn't sound at all like you were blaming the surviving buddy. I myself wondered why it took 20 minutes, as I initially heard he'd searched for a minute. Later I heard (from a close relative of his, as I don't know him personally) that he searched for longer than that. I think it's important to him that people know how hard he tried to find and rescue his friend. I'm sure divers everywhere understand that regardless of what happened to put them in such a predicament, he did his best to try to save his buddy. It's tragic that it had to end this way.

 

[KrisB]

I think the "20 minute" number was thrown out as an explanation of a procedural discussion.

Someone said "complete the dive" was part of the procedure, and this was misunderstood to mean "act as though nothing happened and finish what you set out to do" whereby it was corrected to mean, fulfill deco obligations, then surface.

The "20 minutes" comment was used in reference to potential deco obligations -- *not* this actual situation!

 

[Lightning Fish]

I think the "20 minute" number was thrown out as an explanation of a procedural discussion.

Someone said "complete the dive" was part of the procedure, and this was misunderstood to mean "act as though nothing happened and finish what you set out to do" whereby it was corrected to mean, fulfill deco obligations, then surface.

The "20 minutes" comment was used in reference to potential deco obligations -- *not* this actual situation!

Look at post #3. The 20 minutes was reported by the media.

Bill.

 

[KrisB]

Look at post #3. The 20 minutes was reported by the media.

Bill.

my bad... I thought it had also been mentioned in relevance to deco obligations.

The mention in the media is that the time the [surviving] diver spent below the surface was approximately 20 minutes. That isn't unrealistic -- it would have taken several minutes to get to depth, at least one minute spent searching, then several minutes to ascend safely.

I honestly don't see a problem with that -- if he spent 20 minutes down searching, then it's a little different, but that's not the case, nor is it what was reported.

 

[Laughing Swordfish]

The North Shore News ran an article on the finding of the body (Sunday edition I believe). Apparently he was found floating in a 'wetsuit' with no tanks. I'd like to see some other verification that he was wearing a wetsuit, because we all know the news media never gets it wrong.

If the article is correct I guess we can assume he ditched gear to get to the surface. I'd be interested to know the max depth he reached before ditching and whether or not his wing was functional. Sad sad sad.

 

[gpeter314]

Does anyone know what the next step of the investigation will be? I would like to find out more about how this person passed away, but this thread has been static for a week. Does the corner/police usually produce some type of report that is public? I think its important to find out what happens to people during dive accidents, unfortunately it seems that after the initial media coverage you never hear any more details.

 

[Virgogirl22]

A "gear autopsy" was done on the victim's gear, but I'm not sure if/when or how the results could be made public...