13 year old diver dies - Oahu, Hawaii

[Steve_C]

+5 What Dan_T said. My first reaction also.

 

[Compressor]

Ah!!!!!!!! This is heart breaking. Such sad news.

 

[Compressor]

That’s pretty heartbreaking to me. I lost my 16 year old a few weeks ago in an auto accident. It’s a pain no one should ever have to endure.

I wish I could tell the family that I know how they feel, but there’s nothing anyone can say that will make it any better at all.

If you have people you love, spend as much time as you can with them. Never miss a chance to be near them or take a photo or video with them. You’ll kick yourself for missed opportunities if they are snatched from you.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[peeweediver]

DandyDon: As hard as these may be to read, your post have regularly helped me learn. Questions I have: Who (how old, etc.) was the partner and how "experienced" was the 13 year old. I often decline to teach 10-11 year olds due to my concern about readiness. Though my two kids were certified at 13, I'd have never let them dive with anyone but me until they were 30....OK, maybe 16-17. Anyway, it is a heartbreaking story. As facts are discerned, we will learn as we always do from these incidents.

Rob

 

[BlueTrin]

Ah!!!!!!!! This is heart breaking. Such sad news.

Yea this one is particularly upsetting. So sorry for anybody who remembered a loss after reading this.

 

[KristenK]

@Superlyte27 I am so, so very sorry for your loss. Absolutely devastating to lose a child, I can only imagine. Our high school community lost two juniors in a car accident just after Christmas. Just heartbreaking. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[scubafied]

Back to the accident, this place sounds like not a good place to let a newbie, especially a 13 years old, to start diving.

Maunalua Bay has a number of dive sites that are fairly benign and easy to dive most of the time. Like many sites, as vis reduces and currents pick up, things can go sideways.

Having worked on Oahu as an Instructor and guide for a short period, I can tell you that a lot of "vacation divers" that arrive to the island having never been there, will usually have conjured up dreams of calm, blue, Caribbean-like waters. This not the reality on most days and when combined with dive skills that may or may not be a bit rusty and the internalized pressure to actually do the dives, it can lead to some compromising situations. None of this is speculation as to what actually occurred, just my personal observations from when I worked on the Island.

Without any further information, this sounds like another unfortunate incident of a diver diving beyond their capabilities. My sincere condolences go out to all involved.

 

[wgw04024]

Google.


Discussion and opportunities to learn. This is a discussion board, and I hope that's why you read the A&I forum.

I feel I've learned or have thought more about situational awareness of scuba more from this forum than anything else...

 

[GreyhoundsAreFast]

More info from 13-year-old dies on Hawaii dive - Divernet

A 13-year-old boy on holiday with his family in Hawaii has died while scuba diving about a mile off Maunalua Bay.

The location lies on the south-east coast of the island of Oahu, and the boy and his family had been staying further west in Waikiki. They left on a dive-boat at around 9am on 5 January for a shallow-reef Discover Scuba experience with Island Divers Hawaii.

The alarm was raised at some point after 11am, and the unnamed boy was found unconscious on the seabed at a depth of around 18m by Ocean Safety & Lifeguard Services divers. Paramedics carried out CPR once he had been brought ashore, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Witnesses among some 20 people on the dive-boat told TV station KHON that the boy had suffered a panic attack under water and become separated from the group, in strong currents and with visibility reduced from an expected 30m to less than 5m.

According to one diver, an instructor had described the visibility as the worst he had seen in 20 years of diving in the area. The boat-crew had embarked on an underwater search but at least eight minutes had elapsed before they called in outside help, witnesses told KHON.

Police are carrying out an investigation.

 

[DandyDon]

Discover Scuba

Excuse me? This child was on a Discover dive, meaning he was not trained and certified?! I bite my lip to keep quiet about training and certifying children as young as 10 to Junior level, but taking a 13 year old on a Discover dive in the ocean upsets me.

the boy had suffered a panic attack under water and become separated from the group

And the child was in a group lead by one DM or Instructor, not even one-on-one? I guess the parents signed up for this on assurances from the operator, and the operator goes along with agency standards, but it stinks.

the boy had suffered a panic attack under water and become separated from the group, in strong currents and with visibility reduced from an expected 30m to less than 5m.

Now look! Even if the operator went along with weak agency standards, once they got to the chosen site and found that - the operator/DM or Instructor should have canceled or at least searched for a safer site. This was all much too risky.