Alki Diver Death

[lamont]

it sounds like the medical details were correct, though.

we had already speculated that since her buddy reported that she was conscious on the surface before having issues that she had embolized on the ascent. probably either she held her breath on the rapid ascent or else she aspirated some water at depth and the laryngospasm closed off her throat (and i would imagine produced extreme feelings of panic).

its actually good to see that report and good to see that the ME did the work to figure out a more useful cause of death other than the typical "drowned".

 

[Sasquatch]

Hypothetically, could an experienced diver run out of air? Hypothetically, an equipment malfunction could have run her gas down, or, did the diver NOT notice low air? I wonder if the divers buddy also had low air?

 

[lamont]

Hypothetically, could an experienced diver run out of air?

sure.

Hypothetically, an equipment malfunction could have run her gas down,

yes, but i've found that average leaks on gear don't impact SAC rates much. leaks large enough to impact your gas consumption rate should be noticable to buddies or just through bubble noise.

or, did the diver NOT notice low air? I wonder if the divers buddy also had low air?

my recollection is that her buddy said she signalled low on air and signalled she wanted to do a direct ascent before she ran out, so she knew she was low. her buddy was questioned several times and responded several times that they had done a slow ascent (everyone was concerned about her DCS risk). the rapid ascent apparently happened when they were fairly shallow and was the point where cheryl ran completely out of gas.

 

[punkrex]

Everyone should be thankful that she had the support from such a talented group of divers -- She had the best help possible.
My condolences to those personally involved and effected in this accident.
Rex