(5/01/05) Diver missing in Florida

[pilot fish]

Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.

I am still wondering if there will ever be an answer to the question why somebody who reached the surface and was apparently holding on to a buoy ended up on the bottom after trying to swim to the boat. If the BC was functioning properly, the biggest question in my mind is why it wasn't inflated. If the diver was distressed when he was holding on the buoy, all the more reason to get positive buoyancy before letting go. I just don't get it.

This also troubles me about this fatality: he reached the surface, signaled he was in need of help but got none right away, was an advanced diver, let go of the safety of the mooring ball to swim to the boat, then disappeared from the surface and died because he was not buoyant.

 

[KrisB]

Gpatton:

The thread forked -- you can still get at the original posts from the link above.

I do hope the moderators remove this noise -- it belongs here less than the jonline stuff.

All I can say is either get over it, or go private with Rick.


[Staff Edit: As suggested, the off-topic discussion has been pulled]

 

[Tom Winters]

I drove dive boats for a long time. When I saw someone in distress, I didn't check to see if the person was one of my clients. Even though it was illegal for me to leave my vessel, I jumped in and swam down the flapping person. Most times, I swam them back to the boat, but a couple of times, I pulled their weight belt, puffed them up, calmed them down, and swam back to my boat. The Hawaiian currents could be rough sometimes, and I still had another 20 divers to take care of.
In all my years of driving and diving, I never was party or witness to a fatality. These guys screwed the pooch not jumping in, swimming over, dumping the weight belt, and inflating him. Argue all you want about the missing buddy, why the doctor didn't save himself , or whatever - the guy is dead and people saw him in distress on the surface and didn't respond.

 

[pilot fish]

I drove dive boats for a long time. When I saw someone in distress, I didn't check to see if the person was one of my clients. Even though it was illegal for me to leave my vessel, I jumped in and swam down the flapping person. Most times, I swam them back to the boat, but a couple of times, I pulled their weight belt, puffed them up, calmed them down, and swam back to my boat. The Hawaiian currents could be rough sometimes, and I still had another 20 divers to take care of.
In all my years of driving and diving, I never was party or witness to a fatality. These guys screwed the pooch not jumping in, swimming over, dumping the weight belt, and inflating him. Argue all you want about the missing buddy, why the doctor didn't save himself , or whatever - the guy is dead and people saw him in distress on the surface and didn't respond.

The very least would have been to throw him a line, floatation device, something, but help him in some way till they could drag him aboard.

 

[Jaci]

There seems to be a very consistent theme in most of these accidents,

1. NO BUDDY AT ALL
2. NO BUDDY CLOSE ENOUGH TO HELP

Then there is a combination of diver errors and complacency of some dive or boat professionals without a buddy that ices it. Complacency sets in because we complete 100's of dives without any issues, and boat trips that are uneventful. Ego's tend to get in the way of common sense. Most of these accidents have plenty of blame to go around, keeps the lawyers busy for years. Usually, if any of the sequential errors didn't occur we wouldn't be discussing it. IF the diver dropped his weights, IF he filled his BC with air, IF the boat recognized a diver in distress, IF there was a BUDDY......

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Any pathology released yet?

 

[JustDiveIt]

I don't understand why another diver couldn't have jumped in to assist. It would appear to me that one would act upon instinct.... isn't it our aquired tendency to help those in need of help? Seems like a no brainer to me. So what were a boat load of people (or at least those that saw this guy was in need of help) thinking??? Again, why didn't someone jump in to assist him??? I stuggle with understanding the "why" behind this.

 

[jbd]

I don't understand why another diver couldn't have jumped in to assist. It would appear to me that one would act upon instinct.... isn't it our aquired tendency to help those in need of help? Seems like a no brainer to me. So what were a boat load of people (or at least those that saw this guy was in need of help) thinking??? Again, why didn't someone jump in to assist him??? I stuggle with understanding the "why" behind this.

It is more common for people to not want to get involved these days. Over the years, there have been reports of beatings, rapes and assoults taking place with plenty of bystanders and no one helped the victim(s).

Also, most people out on the water are not trained, or if trained not proficient in water rescue.

 

[Web Monkey]

It is more common for people to not want to get involved these days. Over the years, there have been reports of beatings, rapes and assoults taking place with plenty of bystanders and no one helped the victim(s).

Also, most people out on the water are not trained, or if trained not proficient in water rescue.

So with a boat full of divers, nobody was trained enough to jump back in and swim over to the buoy?

I won't jump out of a perfectly good helicopter, and have only been diving for a few years, but I would have given it a try.

The worst that could happen is you couldn't make it and would drift away hanging on to your SMB, waiting for later pickup.

Terry

 

[jbd]

So with a boat full of divers, nobody was trained enough to jump back in and swim over to the buoy?

Jumping in and swimming to a buoy in and of itself does not constitute a rescue. People on the boat most likely percieved a problem that was beyond their ability to handle.

I won't jump out of a perfectly good helicopter, and have only been diving for a few years, but I would have given it a try.

That is your ethical or moral take on the situation. Apparently the people on the boat didn't share the same.

The worst that could happen is you couldn't make it and would drift away hanging on to your SMB, waiting for later pickup.

Terry

That might be the logical perspective, however, logic doesn't always prevail and how many on the boat had SMB's?

All that any individual can do is learn any particular skill set, practice that skill set and then rehearse its use in their own mind to condition themselves to actually act with that skill set when the time comes. As far as I know there is no legal obligation for a lay person to initiate a rescue. Some people may feel a moral obligation to try but on the other hand some people may not feel that same moral obligation.