Boy, it never ceases to amaze me how a thread can take on a life of its own here. To address a few of the questions:
TSandM is right, this happened in the Ballroom, and these were definitely OW divers.
The panicked diver got down to about 35-40 feet, I'd say, and it took them a few minutes to get there. As I mentioned, the valve was VERY slightly open.
To those who mentioned that in a situation like this, everything goes out the window, I'd have to disagree. Continued training and practice practice practice will provide the muscle memory that allows you to react quickly. I was really impressed with my buddy, he was on them like white on rice with his reg out for them in an instant. No hesitation at all. I attribute that to extensive training and drilling of the skills.
As far as the long hose, not long hose thing....yawn..... this thread didn't start off making any judgements about anyone's configuration. personally, I dive a long hose and donate my primary, but that is due to my cave training, and that is what works FOR ME. My buddy swam over and offered his primary on a long hose even though the divers in trouble weren't diving that configuration, he didn't care. It doesn't really matter the configuration you are diving, we all need to practice the skills for OOA(OOG) situations on a regular basis, period!!