Accident at Gilboa?

[northen diver]

I spent the weekend diving at Portage this weekend. Read the newspaper when I got home Monday and seen this article.

Local News: Mask malfunction sends diver to hospital | sheriff, mask, county : LimaOhio.com

 

[OH-JJ]

Oh for crying out loud. Please tell me that the reporter got it completely wrong...


It sounds to me like the girls mask flooded, she panicked and bolted for the surface, from 25 feet.

either that or her reg malfunctioned at 25 feet, and the reporter has no clue what they are talking about, ( which is normal I find.)

 

[BKP]

A mask 'malfunction?' I wonder if that means she was wearing a full face mask?
More likely, she flooded, couldn't clear, and surfaced too quickly, which created the problem.

Apparently, she was relatively shallow: 22 to 25 feet. Deep enough to embolize, I imagine, if she really screwed the pooch...

However, says she was treated and released... Hardly news-worthy...

 

[diverbob]

Only way I can see a mask "malfunction" would be if it had a purge that stuck in the open position. Regardless, glad she is okay

 

[Garrobo]

Why in hell would a mask "malfunction" cause a diver to rapidly go to the surface? I don't get it.

 

[ronbeau]

Why in hell would a mask "malfunction" cause a diver to rapidly go to the surface? I don't get it.

She could have been an OW student that simply panicked. Apparently the surface 20 - 25 feet away seemed like the safer solution to her at the time.

Since she was treated and released I would have to assume she kept the airway open while heading for the surface.

I wonder why she was "flown" to the hospital. Is the Lima hospital that far from the Gilboa quarry?

 

[northen diver]

She could have been an OW student that simply panicked. Apparently the surface 20 - 25 feet away seemed like the safer solution to her at the time.

Since she was treated and released I would have to assume she kept the airway open while heading for the surface.

I wonder why she was "flown" to the hospital. Is the Lima hospital that far from the Gilboa quarry?

I was also wondering why she was life flighted out. Lima Memorial does have a chamber and Dr Ellis from LMH is the training director for the Putman county EMS area. LMH is only about a 35 minute drive from the quarry.

 

[northen diver]

Why in hell would a mask "malfunction" cause a diver to rapidly go to the surface? I don't get it.

Panic

 

[OH-JJ]

I was also wondering why she was life flighted out. Lima Memorial does have a chamber and Dr Ellis from LMH is the training director for the Putman county EMS area. LMH is only about a 35 minute drive from the quarry.

Oh that is SOP for Gilboa. Since it is over 150 feet deep on the deep side, and there has been some pretty bad DCS hits there, any time there is a dive accident, lifeflight shows up.

 

[do it easy]

Keep in mind that the water temps are probably in the mid 40s to mid 50s, so flooding a mask will cause instant brain freeze- even with a hood on. I've seen a few divers flood a mask in cold water and then bolt to the surface when the cold water hits their face.