2 more UK fatalities last weekend

[String]

The disasterous year for UK diving continues with 2 more separate fatalities last weekend:

http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/death100704.shtml (mentioned below, rapid ascent from 60m (200ft).

http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/deathtwo100704.shtml (found dead/unconcious on sea bed)

The total deaths this year is well above the total for the entire previous year with no obvious trend linking them.

In addition to that 1 bent diver airlifted to pot (as per news reports) and another that didnt make the news (i know from first hand experience being nearby the boat in question at the time of incident).

Ive sort of lost count but think its 18 so far killed but could be wrong.

 

[Roz Amos]

Are many more people actually diving in and around the UK these days? Do you know what the proportional rate is like? Have frequently heard comments that UK conditions tend to be pretty challenging - have (eg) a higher mnumber of tropically trained divers been giving it a go over there?

Is terrible news whatever the cause (if there is one).

 

[verona]

Hi, String. Yes, it seems like hardly a weekend goes by without something being reported. Roz, there may be something in your theory and I can certainly testify from personal experience the challenges of going from tropical to UK waters but also many of the fatalities are experienced divers following deep dives. Often the ones that hit the news are from inland quarries which go very deep. I don't know the reasons for the increase but I would be very interested to see if there are common links. I have a very unscientific theory just from observation that lack of physical fitness for many of the conditions here may be a key underlying factor as well as the usual diver error.

 

[Roz Amos]

The reason i ask is that I dive mostly in Sydney, but after i have been on a tropical trip, I notice that it takes me a couple of dives here to get used to the cooler water/ thicker wetsuits/ worse vis etc again (buoyancy not as good, and generally not as comfortable), and from what i have read the Sydney conditions are a lot more forgiving than the British ones! Can't imagine being trained in 30 degree water and 30m vis and then transferring to much worse conditions without a gradual learning curve.

 

[deepdiverbc]

Your diving conditions are probably quite similar to my area in B.C. The four we had this year upset me but your diving community seems to be having a bad time of it.

I can only assume that the higher number of accidents in your area are due to more divers in the water and more reasons to dive deep such as wrecks.

 

[String]

BSAC statistics hinted that the number of active divers were decreasing slightly although others say its increasing slightly. In reality the number diving is probably about the same.

South coast coastguard issued warnings about increasing numbers of people learning to dive abroad, diving in here with no extra training and getting into difficulties with some fatal results so there is some validity in that theory however a lot of the fatalities are from UK trained UK divers.

Cant see an obvious reason.

 

[aviddiver(him)]

Hi, String. Yes, it seems like hardly a weekend goes by without something being reported. Roz, there may be something in your theory and I can certainly testify from personal experience the challenges of going from tropical to UK waters but also many of the fatalities are experienced divers following deep dives. Often the ones that hit the news are from inland quarries which go very deep. I don't know the reasons for the increase but I would be very interested to see if there are common links. I have a very unscientific theory just from observation that lack of physical fitness for many of the conditions here may be a key underlying factor as well as the usual diver error.

I live in the United States in California.

When PADI publishes its annual "fatalities" report for our area, PADI only includes Canada and the USA including the Carribean.

Does PADI publish a UK (and area) "fatalities" report for your area also?

 

[verona]

I'm not sure aviddiver - someone else may from the UK may, however.

 

[Hoya97]

Hummm,

I'm NAUI and SSI. We teach our students that we train to the 'local conditions' and speaking for myself, I tell them that while their card may be honored in California, they should seek out a LDS and ask for a divemaster/guide or whatever before they try diving there on their own. To be sure, there is a HUGE difference between California and Florida (where I am) - colder water, waves, kelp etc are just a few of the issues California brings to the table that we don't worry too much about in Florida.

Perhaps BSAC (an organization I highly respect) should ask Dive Facilities within the UK to check on experience levels of divers they aren't familar with prior to renting or filling equipment. Just a thought, but it may preclude 'tropical divers' from attempting the more challenging UK environment prior to adiquate preparation.

Simple thoughts from a simple mind

 

[String]

Does PADI publish a UK (and area) "fatalities" report for your area also?

PADI dont. BSAC (the governing body) do.

The BSAC incident reports are gathered from coastguard, media and all other contributions and cover ALL UK divers of any agency involved in an incident. It only counts BSAC members in the overseas report though.

The 2003 report (runs from October 2002 - October 2003) can be found here:

http://www.bsac.org/techserv/increp03/intro.htm

All the previous years are online too.