Accident on Southern Cal Oil Rigs Dive

[muzikbiz22]

I do not think anyone yet knows if there was a "mistake" in this tragic dive event.

It certainly could have been a medical accident, a serious equipment malfunction.

I do not think we will ever know.

What we are learning is much about the protocol of diving these offshore oil rigs.

My point, precisely. We don't know.

 

[mdb]

Ego puffing?? My friend is dead, I want to know if his death could have been prevented. The entire point of this forum is to help prevent further accidents. That club has already had a few accidents. Yet a man dies and this is the one time they don’t do a safety stand down. I’m sorry but I’m still angry as to why my friend is dead.

He was a friend of yours.

I think you have the sympathy of all who are following this thread.

We want to learn so, as you say: "The entire point of this forum is to help prevent further accidents."

 

[undrwater]

You may also want to take a break from this thread for a while. I sympathize.

 

[merxlin]

Ego puffing?? My friend is dead, I want to know if his death could have been prevented. The entire point of this forum is to help prevent further accidents. That club has already had a few accidents. Yet a man dies and this is the one time they don’t do a safety stand down. I’m sorry but I’m still angry as to why my friend is dead.

Its understandable that you want answers. You'll find that they will be slow coming on this forum (or anywhere) as most comments are restricted by liability concerns for all parties involved. Unless someone directly involved adds to what we know (which isn't much, also typical of these events) this may be all we get to know.

It's also understandable to want to find "the cause" or have someone to blame. I know I would. Occasionally we get specific information and can point to a root cause or a triggering issue (bad gas, poorly or improperly serviced gear, gear failures), but sometimes, like when there are medical issues, it just is what it is. As frustrating as that can be, again that may be all we get to know.

Also, the group you are noting has a huge membership and does a lot of diving. Odds are that they will have issues from time to time. This was a common dive, on an established boat, made under good conditions, with a known buddy. I understand your friend has been on rigs dives in the past. I'm not sure how the group had any effect on the situation.

As has been suggested, this is not a good place for family and friends right after a loss like this as we do try to look at potential causes (speculation) and hopefully bring up solutions to those causes so other divers can avoid them in the future.

 

[merxlin]

......................
If some feel that this thread should contain a discussion of the possible causes, at least first try to establish what is known and then evaluate hypotheses logically rather than throwing darts at a board.

That actually IS the point of this forum. And if some of the suggested possible causes are off the mark, they can be countered. Just do so respectfully.

 

[boulderjohn]

The following comment is generic about accident and incident discussions I have observed over the years and may or may not pertain to this incident.

Nearly half of all scuba fatalities begin with a medical event, such as a cardiac arrest. When that happens, there is usually no clear sign of what happened. Unless the diver's buddy happened to be looking right at the event when it happened, it will not be witnessed--the diver will suddenly begin sinking, often disappearing from view, and be found after a frantic search. There is often no autopsy, but when there is, the results are rarely released. It is private information for the family.

But in the world of accident and incident discussions, people insistently believe there must have been a preventable cause, and they search for it. They look for every possible clue of what the diver did wrong, or what the buddy did wrong. They keep waiting for more information. They keep demanding more information. But more information will never come.

In one thread a few years ago the information that the diver had died of a cardiac event of some kind was indeed released, and several people still insisted something must have gone wrong on the dive. Heart attacks don't happen without some triggering event, they said. Well, the truth is that people have cardiac events without triggering events all the time. The second most common time to have one is when you are asleep. The most common time is after breakfast.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Ego puffing?? My friend is dead, I want to know if his death could have been prevented. The entire point of this forum is to help prevent further accidents. That club has already had a few accidents. Yet a man dies and this is the one time they don’t do a safety stand down. I’m sorry but I’m still angry as to why my friend is dead.

My condolences and apologies. For the record, while I did not know Henry, I have corresponded with Elke regarding some filming work she did here in Florida; one of our local tiger sharks was named after her. The first notice I had of this was her post on social media. So while I can't say I'm a friend of the family, I am acquainted with them and this does hit home. According to the memorial post on Power Scuba's Facebook page, "It is also asked that the public and members of the diving community refrain from conjecture and speculation as to the nature of Henry's passing until more information is discovered/released from the authorities pending an investigation and examination." I would like to honor that request.

Also for the record, I have lost friends in dive accidents. More often than not, I still don't know the exact cause of those accidents and likely never will. My first response was not to go out looking for a scalp to blame it on; we are going into an environment almost as hostile as outer space that requires life-support gear. Sometimes it's as simple as your number coming up that day.

The issue I have with the discussion thus far (and many discussions in the A&I forum as a general rule) is that it seems some posters are less focused on drawing reasonable conclusions from the known facts and more on picking a pet theory (Hypercapnia! Oxygen toxicity! Nitrogen narcosis! Bad buddy practice!) and lecturing on the topic without any evidence to assert that scenario is related to the incident in question. We're not going to learn much of anything from that. If we are going to discuss this, let's start by putting together what we know and seeing if we can at least rule some scenarios out. Given what has been posted here so far, I highly doubt hypercapnia, oxygen toxicity, or narcosis are at the root of the accident.

 

[Kevrumbo]

. . ..
In one thread a few years ago the information that the diver had died of a cardiac event of some kind was indeed released, and several people still insisted something must have gone wrong on the dive. Heart attacks don't happen without some triggering event, they said. Well, the truth is that people have cardiac events without triggering events all the time. The second most common time to have one is when you are asleep. The most common time is after breakfast.

John, you're implying in this example, a cause of death without a "triggering event". . .FYI this is obviously a COD not due to Natural Causes.

. . .
The issue I have with the discussion thus far (and many discussions in the A&I forum as a general rule) is that it seems some posters are less focused on drawing reasonable conclusions from the known facts . . .

Based on current known facts, a reasonable conclusion to COD would be Drowning -Scuba Divng Accident. Rule Out Misadventure. (Note: "Rule Out" means it cannot be confirmed nor unconfirmed without more information.)

. . .and more on picking a pet theory (Hypercapnia! Oxygen toxicity! Nitrogen narcosis! Bad buddy practice!) and lecturing on the topic without any evidence to assert that scenario is related to the incident in question. We're not going to learn much of anything from that. If we are going to discuss this, let's start by putting together what we know and seeing if we can at least rule some scenarios out. Given what has been posted here so far, I highly doubt hypercapnia, oxygen toxicity, or narcosis are at the root of the accident.

Because of immersion activity in the hyperbaric environment, we all as Scuba divers become hypercapnic to a degree --and that is a physiological fact.

Physical fitness, age and along with any history of disease or disorder, especially involving cardiorespiratory pathologies, are health factors which can impact the viability of the dive given a hypercapnic condition to begin with.

This is a valid premise to start, and a fair basis to hypothesize a precipitating event to the COD, based on what little information we know as of this moment. . .

 

[bullfroger]

kevrumbo, everyone is hypercapnic?what are your references for that? Someone done underwater blood gasses or end tidal co2 measurements? just curious.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That does it. Everyone out of the pool!