A FB friend posted his brother died today in Ginnie Springs

[ScubaSteve]

It has? Can't see it in 2013 Reports yet.

http://www.underwatercouncil.com/downloads/incident_reports/incidents_outside_ON_in_2013.pdf

It is in the "Outside of Ontario" portion.....

 

[Hatul]

In the report it mentions his teammates kept his reg in his mouth after he started seizing. I'm wondering if there was an attempt to change his breathing to air or at least non toxic Nitrox that might have stopped the seizure?

 

[Doppler]

In the report it mentions his teammates kept his reg in his mouth after he started seizing. I'm wondering if there was an attempt to change his breathing to air or at least non toxic Nitrox that might have stopped the seizure?

I cannot speak for what happened but the protocol in the event of a tox event is to keep whatever reg the diver has in his or her mouth in there... The tox event has happened and should they come to, then one may attempt to switch to something that will deliver a lower partial pressure... In the meanwhile, breathing any gas is better than breathing water... Generally speaking. Kudos to the team member(s) who executed the evac. They did a stellar job in my opinion.

 

[DiverGirl1972]

Prefacing this statement with the fact that I have no cave or technical experience, I would think that once Carlos started seizing, his team members might likely have deducted what was happening and why. I'm sure that they also preferred to keep his reg in his mouth to keep water out of his airway.

 

[tracydr]

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, the buddies asked.

On the other, if a buddy said, "Dude, those tank markings make me nervous. May I analyze your tank, just so I feel better?", then it would have been a 'catch point'.

There are many who immediately want to "blame the buddy" for someone else' ****-up. Where does one draw the line? How big of a PITA does one be??

What if you end up needing to use this resource yourself? Yes, I think you need to be a PITA and insist that the tank be analyzed if its a team resource. If there's a possibility that it can effect anybody in the team by becoming a team resource then I think its well worth becoming a royal horses butt over.

 

[MMM]

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[markmantei]

In the report it mentions his teammates kept his reg in his mouth after he started seizing. I'm wondering if there was an attempt to change his breathing to air or at least non toxic Nitrox that might have stopped the seizure?

A repost on a reply by Jim Wyatt of a similar question from TDS:

"The divers who helped bring Carlos out reported to me that they put his necklaced regulator in his mouth. This was his backup regulator connected to his left post on his backmounted doubles. This gas was analyzed as 30% O2."

 

[elan]

Unless you have a MOD sticker on it with big reflective numbers in low vis or dark environment is hard for your buddies to see whether its white, clear coat, brushed no coat, yellow, pink or gray-burgundy-blue color your tank is painted into.
Not having a mod sticker you are removing an essential verification tool.

I have 5 stage bottles, all alu80's. None of them is permanently marked. But I have only 1 white one that is in 98% of the dives filled with an 80-100%, but still I always write a new label on it with the reall percent of oxygen after filling. When I need to refill I remove old labels and put new ones on it, with date, analysed gas, and mod.

 

[jmrrpn]

No Carlos Fonseca did not do this to take his own life. This is a simply case that no matter how trained and skilled a diver is on any given day anyone can make a mistake ... Many have had close calls as mentioned on this site but Carlos paid dearly with his mistake with his life. Wonderful stories and pictures are being shared by his friends... We miss him it is hard to believe he is gone!!!

 

[Stoo]

No Carlos Fonseca did not do this to take his own life.

When a few of us were discussing this on Saturday at the the Crowsnest in Tobermory, we were all perplexed by the apparent "newbie" mistake of taking an O2 bottle into deep water. This was not the Carlos we knew. I have described as sometimes cocky and so on, but the guy knew what he was doing. I tossed out the idea of an intentional act. Everyone went silent for a moment and then everyone universally dismissed it, including me. (The people there were some of his closest friends, including his original Instructor.)

Carlos had life by the b*lls and loved his family and diving, in that order. He ran a successful business and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. I've never met his wife, but I have met his little girl a few times since her high-diving class shared a training pool we use sometimes.

The final conclusion we came to is that there is simply no way he would have taken his life intentionally because he brought his family with him to Florida. They were at Disney when this happened.