Accident off Waukegan Harbor 7/17/05

[tedwhiteva]

BASIC INFORMATION
THE TWO DIVERS WERE DOWN NEAR 112 FT BELOW THE SURFACE ON A OLD GRAIN BARGE WHEN DIVER NUMBER 1 BEING LOWER RAN OUT OF AIR. DIVER 1 WENT TO DIVER 2 AND BEGAN BUDDY BREATHING. THE AIR RAN OUT ON THE SECOND TANK AND BOTH DIVERS BEGAN A BOUYANT ACSENT TO THE SURFACE. DIVER 1 ASCENDED FASTER TO THE SURFACE. WHEN DIVER 2 MADE IT TO THE SURFACE HE FOUND DIVER 1 UNCONCIOUS, NOT BREATHING AND BLOOD DISCHARGING FROM THE MOUTH. THE DIVER SUMMONED THE DIVE BOAT TO PICK THEM UP AND COMMENCED CPR WITH OXYGEN ASSIST. DIVER 1 WAS PRONOUNCED DECEASED AT THE HOSPITAL, DIVER 2 WAS TAKEN TO HYPERBARIC CHAMBER.

Our thoughts and prayers go to the family of Diver 1.

And please watch your gas supply!

 

[nitroxbabe]

For anyone who knew Steve:

Visitation will be Monday July 25 from 6-8 pm. The service will be Tuesday July 26 at 11 am. Both will be held at the Fitzgerald funeral home on Rockton & Riverside in Rockford at 3910 N. Rockton Aveue. Their phone number is 815-654-2484 if anyone has questions.

I'm sure flowers or memorials would be appreciated. Steve left a wife and two children behind.

We have lost a good friend. He will be missed.

 

[moneysavr]

For anyone who knew Steve:

Visitation will be Monday July 25 from 6-8 pm. The service will be Tuesday July 26 at 11 am. Both will be held at the Fitzgerald funeral home on Rockton & Riverside in Rockford at 3910 N. Rockton Aveue. Their phone number is 815-654-2484 if anyone has questions.

I'm sure flowers or memorials would be appreciated. Steve left a wife and two children behind.

We have lost a good friend. He will be missed.

Just did several dives with Steve up in Portwashington 2 weeks ago!He was a great guy,any more on the dive,low out of air? just not like Steve,was it the other Divers low air that had the problem?
Brad

 

[MikeFerrara]

Sorry to hear it. I understand that a bunch of the members here knew him. I haven't been very active lately and never had the pleasure. I've been in enough of these threads and looked at enough accidents and I really am so tired. There seems to be only a few different basic things that keep hapening over and over. It's like movies...there's only a few basic stories and they just keep remaking them in different settings with different characters.

In a 2 person team, each diver must always have enough gas to get bpth divers to the surface! ALWAYS! A dive must NEVER go past that point and it doesn't matter if it's a Great Lakes wreck, a caribbean reef or a Florida cave. The more complex a dive and the more adverse the conditions the more reserve may be needed. I don't know the background of these divers but too many agencies don't teach this (at least not at the recreational level). The is a HUGE number of divers in the water at this very moment who have not been exposed to this concept and this will happen to more of them.

IMO, for agencies and instructors to ignor the subject for another second is murder. If you have it down please teach it to those you dive with. If you're an instructor, teach it regardless of whether or not your agency has figured it out yet. If your a diver and don't have it down please ask. All you need is gas. Dive safe.

 

[Frogman544]

Does anybody know if this was a training dive ? I read he was brought up by a Instructor in another Blog.

Thanks

 

[bob1dp]

Come on guys check your air. I check my buddies air a couple of times during the dive. It’s a good way to connect and plan the rest of the dive. On one dive a checked a divers air. There were four of us. I had 2500 he had 750. Holly ****! We went right to the surface. He had some sort of a slow leak that none of us were catching. The next dive the same thing happened. Check your air check your buddies’ air.

 

[Corigan]

My Respects and condolences to the friends and family of fallen great ones.

112' dive and buddy breathing. Any idea the size of cylinders?

Matt

 

[Doc]

Come on guys check your air. I check my buddies air a couple of times during the dive. It’s a good way to connect and plan the rest of the dive. On one dive a checked a divers air. There were four of us. I had 2500 he had 750. Holly ****! We went right to the surface. He had some sort of a slow leak that none of us were catching. The next dive the same thing happened. Check your air check your buddies’ air.

Agreed, but 2500 versus 750. That was simply not a "slow leak". We cross check and signal every 500 p.s.i., never fail.

I have one of those Sherwood Oasis regs that I use recreationaly. Divers are constantly coming up to me and displaying great alarm at the bzzzzzzt of bubbles streaming out. Obviously- this is a "slow" leak.

More to the thread, I have been to that wreck site many times in my youth {before I found the Caribbean } with the likes of John Steele, Joe Brell, Joe Strykowski and others....and so, for many reasons, I am saddened.

When the final official incident report is issued, and this will take time, speculation on the dive in question is ill advised.

It is however, a great medium and proper forum for discussing gas management.

 

[MikeFerrara]

When the final official incident report is issued, and this will take time, ...

I've never seen such a thing. If it's a work thing then OSHA publishes some detailed analysis and the IUCRR publishes a report for cave diving accidents they are called in on. In other cases you'll never hear anything beyond what is said here and on other forums like it. To my knowledge there is no mechanism for accidents to be analyzed and reported on by some one knowledgeable in diving.

I think the diving community is in desperate need of such a thing but it isn't there and probably never will be. The police want to find out if there was a crime and any insurance companies want to get out of paying. You might be able to get a police report but but I doubt it would be useful and insurance companies are not going to share anything.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

<snip>.......In a 2 person team, each diver must always have enough gas to get bpth divers to the surface! ALWAYS! A dive must NEVER go past that point and it doesn't matter if it's a Great Lakes wreck, a caribbean reef or a Florida cave. The more complex a dive and the more adverse the conditions the more reserve may be needed. I don't know the background of these divers but too many agencies don't teach this (at least not at the recreational level). The is a HUGE number of divers in the water at this very moment who have not been exposed to this concept and this will happen to more of them.

IMO, for agencies and instructors to ignor the subject for another second is murder. If you have it down please teach it to those you dive with. If you're an instructor, teach it regardless of whether or not your agency has figured it out yet. If your a diver and don't have it down please ask. All you need is gas. Dive safe.

Amen, Mike.

Thanks for all the help in the past.