This was posted on another forum board (Diving Accidents) and was a pretty interesting account of someone that was there topside when this event happened.
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Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:34 -0700 (PDT)
My 2 cents.
I was diving "The Grove" Friday morning when this incident occurred. There were 5 boats out there, about half the number that are normally present, due to 5 to 6 foot waves keeping the crowd down. I was on Quiescence II, which was moored to the starboard bow ball. Slate's boat "Starfish Enterprise" was moored next to us on port bow ball. Additionally, there was "Scuba Do", "Island Ventures" & "It's A Dive" on site at the time and tied up on port balls of the wreck.
My first comment is WHAT AN INCREDIBLE JOB ALL THE CAPTAINS PRESENT DID DURING THIS INCIDENT.
Scuba Do captain did a great job in managing all the radio traffic and inquiries made by the Coast Guard & other agencies that showed up. It was a VERY CONFUSING and FLUID situation & he calmly worked the problem.
The first diver came up (low on air) and blew a whistle to alert of a problem. Coast Guard was called and they were actually ON SCENE by the time the divers that were from Slate's boat (and just happened upon the diver in the wreck) came up with the first victim. A Coast Guard RIB-like vessel pulled along side of them and 4 CG crew men pulled the diver on board. I'm guessing not more than a minute from the time that divers surfaced with him.
NOW, I don't know what the news articles mean that say he was in "distress". Because the CG started giving the diver CPR right away! So if "distress" means in respitory and/or cardiac arrest, then OK, I'll agree with that statement. Normally, we use "distress" for a diver that is having problems getting down, or is stressed due to be low on air. Anyway, CG gave compressions and floated on the scene for maybe 5 minutes, as there was some possibility that 2 divers coming up that same line were the "lost" divers. A diver from Island Ventures entered the water and went down that line to deliver a fresh bottle, as it was assumed that if it were the 2 missing divers, they would be in DEEP DECO and need more gas. However, after more minutes passing, and numerous radio inquiries, it was determined that the divers on the line WERE NOT the missing ones, just 2 divers coming up the wrong line. (Divers coming up wrong line on SG is not uncommon. We had 2 of Slate's divers
come up our line in the middle of our group. In a pinch, any line will do is often the thought...usually by those who didn't plan or pay attention on their dive!) Once it was determined not to be the divers, the CG RIB took off to shore with the unresponsive diver.
We (and the other boats present) stayed on scene for an hour. We had lookouts posted, in case the divers surfaced away from the wreck. But the current WAS LOW that day, and the probability of that was low too. Some highly qualified divers on our boat, prepared to go back down, but with a short surface interval, bottom time was insufficient to be effective. ( I can only assume the same situation was occurring on the other boats present.) At some point the reality of it being a RECOVERY instead of RESCUE was reached. Scuba Do captain radioed CG to close the wreck for diving. CG helicopter showed up later and hovered the area for probably an hour.
The dive shop the group I was diving with was staying at, was used as headquarters for the recovery effort. A recovery group went out FRI afternoon and returned after dark without being able to remove the trapped divers. They went out again on SAT morning and finally returned LATE Saturday afternoon with the recovery completed.
IT IS PHENOMENAL the amount of MAN POWER and EQUIPMENT that went into this effort, due to the depth involved. A big tip of the hat to Key Largo Fire Rescue and all the other parties/agencies/ diveshops involved in the recovery.
Again it was impressive the level of professionalism and responsiveness that was shown that day. It is unfortunate that all this effort couldn't have brought forth a better outcome.
Sincerely,
**Name removed**
