Accident in Belize

[KevinNM]

I thought I remembered another one like this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac.../392317-father-son-run-over-dive-charter.html

 

[ZombieZombie]

It isnot clear that the boat was in gear. One eye witness says it was another said it wasn't. The gentleman that we talked to was very shook up. I thought he was going to refuse to enter the water when our DM explained why he left the engines on and the boat out of gear.

The person that was in the same group with the victim told me the neurosurgeon said the injury was absolutely not related to a spinning prop though I'm not sure how he could say that for certain.

The seas were pretty rough that day. I'm guessing almost 10 feet at times. I could see the damage described occurring that way.

The closest I have come to serious injury diving was on French Reef off Key Largo just this way. I got pulled towards the boat in 6 foot swells and looked up to see the (not rotating) prop starting to swing down towards my head. I narrowly avoided the boat, but as last one exiting the water I think I would have been in big trouble had it hit. Rough seas concern me when there is a large boat with a fixed ladder at the back beside the prop. Much better when you can climb up on the side at the mid-point.

---------- Post added February 23rd, 2015 at 08:18 PM ----------

I can imagine it would be chaotic if the seas were that big. Leaving a boat turned off would leave you at the mercy of the winds and waves. Maybe not do the dive? If you are not use to those sea conditions, isn't it up the the diver to call the dive and not the boat? As a diver, wouldn't a running engine be a clear and obvious danger? Hard to place blame on diver or boat with no solid info.

This is a phrase we see a lot on these pages. The issue is that no one would ever get experience of less than perfect conditions if no one took a chance when inexperienced. We still need to get more facts about this case- was the prop turning or not? - but I will go have breakfast and have a quiet day on land rather than dive in seas above 4-5 feet anymore. It's a personal choice, but things become far too random at 6 feet +. I've just been spooked a couple of time more than I like.

 

[vincent54]

I place blame on no one. Sounds like bad conditions and the sea won this time. I don't know any diver physically capable of diving in ten foot swell. East coast divers come to mind, but none of my Caribbean friends, or myself could do it. Hopefully he heals without problem and can get back to the water.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Well the truth is a matter of perspective. Witnesses will give their interpretation of the events based on what they saw or thought they saw.

The "torn" BCD could have been a result of a diver's knife cutting it off to get quick access

The DM (if he was indeed a DM) may have had no experience splashing in these types of conditions.

The Surgeon may or may not have said he could tell it was not a running prop. He may have seen more of an impact injury and less of a slashing/cutting type injury.

The O2 was either used or not, working or not.

I would certainly expect anyone worth their salt coming out of any of my O2 provider courses to have got the O2 on if at all possible. Head injuries always deserve O2 as does anything related to the circulatory system (bleeding) and the Respiratory system. One would expect the respiration to be shallow so O2 enriched air to the unconscious breathing Casualty is always advised.

I'd say we shouldn't get too hung up on some of the statements of "witnesses" who were on the boat or spoke to someone from the boat.

There is a lot of value to discussing the potential contributing factors in the incident. Some of the things that could contribute to an accident like this.

Inexperience in High seas. We all need to give serious thought to what level of seas is too dangerous for US to take on.

Inexperience with Hot Drops. Was the concept clearly explained. Did the person listen to the brief and follow it? Were these conditions too much for the "Hot drop" experience of the diver? Is there a way to get a bit of practice at Hot Drops, should that be done before the trip?

Could something have distracted the diver? Another diver they were watching out for.. sea life?

Was enough research done on the type of diving in the area and the appropriate training needed prior to committing to the trip?

Did anyone actually SEE the event .. the impact or is it ALL speculation?

 

[scubatennessee]

Speculation - I detest it. The man severely injured in this "diving" accident was a dear friend of ours. He owned and ran a PADI Dive Shop in our city for many, many years. One of the most experienced, cautious divers I've ever known. He has certified thousands of divers in our area. He certified my husband and I over 25 years ago. Previous life he worked in military, as well as a commercial diver. Probably more experienced in the diving industry than anyone posting on this board. Prayers he is able to recover from this horrible injury. If anyone has first hand knowledge of what happened, please post or message so we can pass on to his family.

 

[tomfcrist]

Probably more experienced in the diving industry than anyone posting on this board.

Not that I disagree with the meat of your post, but this tidbit is highly unlikely.

 

[DandyDon]

Speculation - I detest it. The man severely injured in this "diving" accident was a dear friend of ours. He owned and ran a PADI Dive Shop in our city for many, many years. One of the most experienced, cautious divers I've ever known. He has certified thousands of divers in our area. He certified my husband and I over 25 years ago. Previous life he worked in military, as well as a commercial diver. Probably more experienced in the diving industry than anyone posting on this board. Prayers he is able to recover from this horrible injury. If anyone has first hand knowledge of what happened, please post or message so we can pass on to his family.

Speculation helps think of possible causes and how to avoid them ourselves.

I am sorry about your dear friend's injury, hope for the best, and thank you for the information.

 

[scagrotto]

I am a little confused as to why this injured DM would have needed O2, unless his heart or breathing had stopped, and CPR had to be performed.
Was that the case?

Maybe you should take a decent first aid course. O2 is standard treatment for injuries that reduce perfusion. In addition to anything that reduces O2 transfer in the lungs that means anything that reduces blood flow to the brain. I'll take the liberty of speculating that he was bleeding significantly as a result of the head wound.

Probably more experienced in the diving industry than anyone posting on this board.

You might think so, but you're just speculating, and you're probably doing it based on very poor information.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Speculation - I detest it. The man severely injured in this "diving" accident was a dear friend of ours. He owned and ran a PADI Dive Shop in our city for many, many years. One of the most experienced, cautious divers I've ever known. He has certified thousands of divers in our area. He certified my husband and I over 25 years ago. Previous life he worked in military, as well as a commercial diver. Probably more experienced in the diving industry than anyone posting on this board. Prayers he is able to recover from this horrible injury. If anyone has first hand knowledge of what happened, please post or message so we can pass on to his family.

Thanks for the information regarding your friend. Please note we do not mean to be hurtful or disrespectful to you or your friend. What this forum is about is trying to identify things that we can do to be safer divers.

Accidents cause us to give sober thought to our actions. In these threads we seldom have a heap of information but what information we do get makes us think and speculate. If the speculation leads us down a track that encourages us to rethink our activities and keeps us safer that is a good that can come from a bad situation.

IMHO your post is quite helpful because it reminds us that even experienced divers with heaps of dives and qualifications can be injured. Experienced divers need to be reminded of this and less experienced divers need to recognize this so they don't blindly trust someone based on their "experience" to know what is right for us.

If experienced divers get injured then less experienced must think even more carefully about what their choices should be!

You may find this worth reading http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...ents-incident-threads-victim-perspective.html

Maybe you should take a decent first aid course. O2 is standard treatment for injuries that reduce perfusion. In addition to anything that reduces O2 transfer in the lungs that means anything that reduces blood flow to the brain. I'll take the liberty of speculating that he was bleeding significantly as a result of the head wound.


You might think so, but you're just speculating, and you're probably doing it based on very poor information.

Wish I could "like" half a post. First part is dead on.

scubatennesse is obviously a new member, impacted by her Friend's injury and probably not familiar with how this place works. Perhaps not familiar with Internet Forums in general Probably pretty natural tendency to "defend" what maybe misinterpreted as a slight on the reputation of a friend who can not defend himself. There are a lot of highly experienced well meaning posters here but that may not seem obvious to someone in scubatennesse's shoes right now.

 

[vincent54]

Nothing wrong defending a downed friend. The impression I get from Scubatennessee is her friend was such an experienced diver it was the boats fault for the injury. Am I off base? At our ages, we all have had loved ones and friends get sick,injured or die. Unfortunately it's life. An immediate response is to try to lay blame on something or someone, when in fact it's out of our/their control. I don't think the diver's character or ability was in question. To imply the boat was at fault with no substantiated facts,is more speculation.Which we detest.