Careful about taking too much from news stories.
EXACTLY! Which is why the challenged the statement:
clownfishsydney:
So many things wrong with this dive "plan" that I cannot even start to list them.
Notably, that poster has yet to respond.
You have a buddy team apparently (from the report) engaged in a project to document the impact of lionfish on the marine environment in Bermuda. They were diving at 200 ft. They were taking pictures. This doesn't sound like a spur-of-the-moment bounce dive to 200 ft on an AL80, with enough time to shoot two pictures and then come back up. It seems more likely, at least to me, that this was a thoughtful, intentional, planned dive, for which I will presume that they were equipped - with gear, gas, and a dive plan - sufficiently to accomplish the mission safely. Could I be wrong? Yes. But, that seems far more likely than a stunt. Frankly, there was little in the description that raised alarms about the 'plan'. Shooting a bag at 40 ft, is certainly not uncommon. OK, it isn't 'standard' - many decompression schedules are accomplished on the primary anchor line. But, I can see multiple scenarios that would end up with a decompressing buddy team shooting a bag at 40 feet - to let the dive boat know they were intentionally separating from the anchor line (which the boat could then pull), or the current had picked up and it was easier for them to do a drift hang, instead of flapping in the current trying to hold the anchor line, or they did a free ascent for the first part of their deco schedule (perhaps, no anchor line was even in the water), and they were alerting the boat (which presumably had been following bubbles) that they had reached their 40 foot stop, which would give the boat a good idea of where they were in the deco plan, as well as a good surface marker to follow behind during the longer part of the deco schedule. I wasn't there, the details haven't been fully commuincated, and all of these presumtions
could be wrong. But, before I jump to a conclusion that there was anything 'wrong with this dive plan', I can easily see how it was 'right', up to the point of the lift bag deployment.
A diver does an uncontrolled buoyant ascent from 40 feet, and misses the last several (important) deco stops (maybe, 40, 30 and 20 feet). He hits the surface, quickly untangles the line, he feels fine. What should he do? OK, I could make the argument to come on board, let's get back to shore and to a chamber (of course, after we send a crew member down / recall the other diver, who then has to blow off his decompression schedule). But, I am not familiar with the site in Bermuda where the dive took place, so I don't know what diving in 'deep water off Tuckers Town' implies. Maybe, they were a two hour boat ride from shore. Maybe, they were in an area where helicopter transport was not available. Maybe, the diver made an on-the-spot judgement call, and decided to simply drop back down to 40ft and finish the deco obligation. Frankly, I have seen that as often as I have seen, 'Run for shore!' And, each time, it has worked. What would I do - I would quite probably do exactly what the diver did - I feel OK, it was a quick ride, I am going right back down. In this case, it didn't work. Or, in this case, maybe the damage was already done, and the diver would have died from an AGE on the boat on the way to a chamber. Hindsight sure is wonderful.
This was a tragic accident. I can't fault the diver for getting tangled in the lift bag line - it happens (rarely, but it happens) despite training and experience. And, as much as I would like to agree that the buddy should have been ready to cut him loose, I can't fault that, either. I am two feet away, watching my buddy deploy his bag, possibly clipping off his camera for him while he does the deployment. I don't see the line get partially wrapped around a tank valve. The bag is inflated, and away my buddy goes, faster than I could possibly react, catch him, and cut the line. Or, even if i do manage to grab him, it is a really short ride from 40 ft to the surface. That is reality.
What can we learn so far, without additional details which may come forth later: 1. constant vigilance is required during a dive, as even a simple task can put you in harm's way - to be honest, I have even never thought before this about having my cutting tool out and ready to go while my dive buddy is deploying his bag; 2. lift bag deployment is simple, but it is a practiced art, so practice it regularly; 3. sometimes, bad things happen.