3 Divers lost on the Spiegel Grove

[CBulla]

Sixth death or accident with deaths - three during this incident.

Ahem. I hate to say it but a few of y'all may need to slow down a bit when you are reading the news articles. (bolding below is mine)



IOW, if the Miami Herald has its fact straight, previous to this incident there were a total of three deaths on the SG- the last of which occured before Hurricane Dennis righted the vessel in July of 2005. As Howard & others have pointed out, this wreck is dived by thousands of divers each year & this is the first such accident since 2003. It's bad enough that we almost never get enough information to even attempt actual accident analysis, much less full disclosure of what is discovered. Let's not speculate based on misunderstood & exagerated information.

 

[Vayu]

Although I do think swimming 20 feet through an empty room where you can see the other side clearly is less dangerous than going into enclosed areas with a single outlet, it isn't what I would call "safe".

I feel that these types of overhead are even more dangerous due to the fact that they appear safer. Don't play around.

 

[purduerules]

My thoughts and prayers are with the families. This news really hit me hard. I dove the Spiegel Grove last Saturday as my first deep dive during Advanced training. Conditions then were excellent with great visibility and low current. To stay on the safe side, I dove with a pony bottle and additional reg. I will never go deep without redundant air.

 

[scubapolly]

here's the quote from TDS:

"single 80' back gas with another staged 80 outside the wreck. There was a reel but the line was busted.

From two ex students of mine (tech 1) who came across the first body and did the recovery on it (that diver was almost out of the wreck)" -- http://thedecostop.com/forums/showpost.php?p=294007&postcount=23

Some assumptions, but I don't think I am making too big of jumps.....
Diver outside the wreck almost runs out of air (dive time was longer than planned)
2 divers are inside the wreck and recovery of the bodies is going to be a challenge (They are in a tight space, or very deep in the wreck)
One diver makes it almost out, but was in distress.....

Makes is sound like there is a good chance this is a case of a diver (or 2) getting stuck in a tight restriction. A diver that isn't stuck goes to get help???

 

[ScubaTexan]

Some assumptions, but I don't think I am making too big of jumps.....
Diver outside the wreck almost runs out of air (dive time was longer than planned)
2 divers are inside the wreck and recovery of the bodies is going to be a challenge (They are in a tight space, or very deep in the wreck)
One diver makes it almost out, but was in distress.....

Makes it sound like there is a good chance this is a case of a diver (or 2) getting stuck in a tight restriction. A diver that isn't stuck goes to get help???

Sounds plausible to me.

 

[douglasville diver]

Diving,ALL Diving is inherenitly dangerous and experience comes just after you need it.
These divers were just like us. We all try to to do deeper, longer and more exciting dives each and every time we dive and for all you lawers out there .....well all I can say is go find a 7mi per hour rear bumper hit to collect on .

 

[H2Andy]

I simply wondered out loud if certain dive sites are riskier than others and if so, how does a diver find out about it and does anybody do anything to correct the situation.

well, the fact that you are preparing for a penetration dive in a wreck should give away that you're into danger territory here... just a guess...

The average diver presumes that commercial diver operators are not going to expose them to needless risk, waiver or not.

the average diver is trained and knows they have no business doing penetration dives anywhere...

if they do ... it's their choice

Scuba-do claims that they're just a bus out to the dive site: waiver

they are. so long as they operate the boat safely, count heads, and bring people back, they're doing their job.

not a response to Thas, but guys ... this is a risky sport, no matter how "safe" we try to make it sound ... add overhead and you triple or quadruple the risk ... add a maze of man-made passages, and you are talking easily five or six times the risk ...

if you are not willing to accept that if you screw it up badly enough you will die, you shouldn't be doing this type of diving

 

[H2Andy]

Makes is sound like there is a good chance this is a case of a diver (or 2) getting stuck in a tight restriction. A diver that isn't stuck goes to get help???

i was thinking they got lost. one made the right choices and got out, but was perhaps too low on gas? had a cardiac issue under the stress? at any rate, he does not survive.

two headed in the wrong direction and didn't make it out

(this is total speculation, based on the reports)

 

[UWARK]

here's the quote from TDS:

"single 80' back gas with another staged 80 outside the wreck. There was a reel but the line was busted.

From two ex students of mine (tech 1) who came across the first body and did the recovery on it (that diver was almost out of the wreck)" -- http://thedecostop.com/forums/showpost.php?p=294007&postcount=23

Who is Tech 1?

 

[H2Andy]

two ex students of Canucksubmariner, who did the recovery on the first body (the two ex students did)

(Canucksubmariner posted it on The Deco Stop)