(5/01/05) Diver missing in Florida

[H2Andy]

the Coast Guard, most likely, will conduct the investigation

you could call their local office for information, but they won't release it until
the investigation is complete, which can take a bit

 

[MoonWrasse]

What Agency, like PADI, SSI, will have an accurate account of what heppened? There is a lesson here for we divers and I'd like to know exactly what happened. Did he run out of air, were his weights still on, could he have orally inflated his BC ,etc.

RIP

I'd expect DAN to eventually receive a report, however who will know what "actually" transpired except for the unfortunate Doctor, other than external observations.

I've been puzzled by the going under the water sequence. I'm tending to agree with the poster that in such a situation (i.e. swimming back against a strong current) that I would have also descended slightly to swim underwater. I'm thinking that this is actually much riskier than one might guess, for the following reasons:
1) Your tank would likely be low, given that you've been diving in strong currents. This leaves you with little safety margin, and IME you would have to pull air from the tank if your regulator wasn't balanced as the air got low.
2) You're distracted, and fighting the current, you might forget to monitor depth/air leading to a situation of very little to no safety margin.
3) After diving, your body is compromised. A swim/exercise which prior to the dive would have been not so strenuous would be stressful after the dive.

One thing which also bothers me, is that normally I have a rope thrown out to my group from the boat, which we are pulled back to within a few feet of the ladder. Was this done in this case?

 

[GrierHPharmD]

If you're a member of DAN, you can go hear to read the accident and fatality reports, summarized annually. The stats are interesting, but I find the abstracts at the end particularly educational. It's amazing how many of these tragedies could be avoided by following training guidlines. (I'm not speaking to the current incident, as I don't know the details and don't want to guess, but in general.)

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/index.asp

 

[MoonWrasse]

It's amazing how many of these tragedies could be avoided by following training guidlines. (I'm not speaking to the current incident, as I don't know the details and don't want to guess, but in general.)

That's good, as it implies the training tracks the problems actually occuring, not just an abstraction.

 

[cudachaser]

May 3, 2005

Brevard doctor dies in Keys' diving accident

By J.D. GALLOP
FLORIDA TODAY


Dr. Tarik Khair-El-Din
Enlarge this image

A Palm Bay Community Hospital kidney specialist died during a weekend Key Largo diving accident, officials confirmed today.

Dr. Tarik Khair-El-Din, 44, was reported missing during a diving expedition Saturday to the USS Spiegel Grove artificial reef, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Khair-El-Din, an Indialantic resident, began working with Holmes Regional Medical Center and Palm Bay Community Hospital in 1994, Health First officials said.

Monroe County investigators said his body was found face down about 100 yards from the wreck of the Spiegel Grove. His dive mask was still on but a officials said his air tank appeared empty.

Witnesses said Khair-El-Din was reported missing from the N2DEEP dive boat after surfacing and disappearing near the waves, officials said.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the sheriff's office and Key Largo Fire-Rescue carried out a search of the nearby area, officials said.

Health First officials said Khair-El-Din, known to colleagues and patients as Dr. Khair, was well respected.

"We were saddened to hear about Dr. Khair's passing. He was a wonderful supporter of the hospital and the South Brevard community," said Gail Schuneman, president of the Palm Bay Community Hospital. "He will be greatly missed."

He received his medical degree from Cairo University in Egypt and completed his internship and residency at Methodist Central Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

 

[SueMermaid]

I hate stories like this.

 

[pilot fish]

I'd expect DAN to eventually receive a report, however who will know what "actually" transpired except for the unfortunate Doctor, other than external observations.

I've been puzzled by the going under the water sequence. I'm tending to agree with the poster that in such a situation (i.e. swimming back against a strong current) that I would have also descended slightly to swim underwater. I'm thinking that this is actually much riskier than one might guess, for the following reasons:
1) Your tank would likely be low, given that you've been diving in strong currents. This leaves you with little safety margin, and IME you would have to pull air from the tank if your regulator wasn't balanced as the air got low.
2) You're distracted, and fighting the current, you might forget to monitor depth/air leading to a situation of very little to no safety margin.
3) After diving, your body is compromised. A swim/exercise which prior to the dive would have been not so strenuous would be stressful after the dive.

One thing which also bothers me, is that normally I have a rope thrown out to my group from the boat, which we are pulled back to within a few feet of the ladder. Was this done in this case?

Moon, you raise an excellent point, why wasn't a line thrown to him by the boat Captain, who knew he was in some kind of trouble. As I've said on this board, on a dive on the Grove I came up on the wrong ascent line to the wrong boat. I got full blown hypoxia swimming against the current in 5 ft chop on my snorkel trying to get to the right boat. I turned and went back to the wrong boat and got aboard till they threw me a line to get back to the right boat. Why was this not done fro this diver, as Moonwrasse correctly asked?

 

[mempilot]

The bouys are in line, but if the current isn't inline with them, it would be impossible to throw a line from a moored boat to another ascent line bouy.

 

[dzechman]

I was scheduled to dive the Grove on Friday, April 29th. However, my operator strongly suggested that we dive another location due to harsh conditions at the Grove.

Our vis conditions for last week were around 40 feet. I don't know if it was better or worse at the Grove, but our last dive, at French reef, vis decreased during our dive.

 

[pilot fish]

The bouys are in line, but if the current isn't inline with them, it would be impossible to throw a line from a moored boat to another ascent line bouy.

I don't understand. If the boat is moored to the buoy couldn't someone go to the bow and throw a 50 ft to the diver and pull him to the boat, or allow him to go hand over hand to the boat? Report says he was close to the boat so I'm thinking he must have been close enough to get a line to him?