American woman dead - Bell Island, Newfoundland

[DandyDon]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/diver-death-nl-1.6538819

An American woman is dead after diving off the Newfoundland coast, the RCMP said Tuesday.

She's the third person to perish in the waters off Bell Island this summer. In late June, a 56-year-old American man lost his life while diving in the same region.

Just two weeks before that, a 60-year-old Ontario man was also found dead.

Police said in a statement that officers were dispatched at 11 a.m. on July 27 due to reports of a woman in distress near a yacht club in Conception Bay South, where she was taken after diving off Bell Island.

By the time police arrived, the woman, a 60-year-old from Maryland, was dead.

The area is popular with divers looking to explore shipwrecks and has been featured in diving magazines. It's also home to several adventure tourism companies that offer diving tours.

The RCMP says its investigation is continuing.

 

[awetmedic]

 

[awetmedic]

This is her screeching in party. She was having a lot of fun with us. She was enjoying life to the fullest and was very careful about her equipment and procedures.

 

[awetmedic]

I got some second hand information and I want to make a few guesses. Here is what I was told, she had a free flowing regulator, (37 degree water) she started breathing from a bailout tank on a rebreather diver on the way up. She disengages after a time and goes to the bottom.

Ok, now my guesses. The max air flow for humans is 4 cu/ft minute. If she was panic breathing at 3 cu/ft /min and the rebreather diver wants to do their decompression (was it required or a safety stop?) or do a 20 ft/min ascent that bailout tank will not last if it is a small one that is just meant to get you straight up. I don't know the size of the bailout tank, if it had a SPG on it or if it she breathed it to empty after checking it when the rebreather diver surfaced.

Things are way different now, but when I trained as a commercial diver we had a safety diver on stand by for as many dives as we could, nearly every dive, especially for cold water where freeze ups are common. Even when I ran dive boats in Grand Cayman or Bonaire we had a full rig at the back of the boat that the divemaster could grab and go. We also had to pass regular fitness and medical tests as well as have weekly maintence checks on all gear. When a dive is an exceptional exposure dive (simple things like cold water or exertion qualifies so does holding any type of tool in your hands) the safety procedures went up. Did the rebreather diver not want to miss their decompression and so when the "bailout" (the name pony hides the purpose) bottle was empty, that was it for the out of air diver? Did the out of air buddy even know how much air was in the bottle? I know it is common not to put a SPG on bailout bottles. Was this 60 year old woman "sold" into the trip? Was the use of small capacity bailout bottles from rebreathers explained to her and that deco and slow ascents are probably not an opton with a bailout bottle? Such as take the bottle and go, you are on your own, I have to stay here and decompress as I have way exceeded sport diving times. We used to have a 5 minute get back down and finish your decompression rule if you bailed out. Get more air, go back down, let the safety diver go with you. A lot changes when you tell everybody that anybody can scuba dive, even exceptional exposure dives and tech and it is great for the whole family.

 

[doctormike]

First hand information here, not gong to say anything more specific than that (on this person's request), but just trying to help avoid the spread of inaccuracy.

Both divers were on single tank, open circuit. There was no deco obligation. The surviving diver was a very experienced cold water rebreather diver. I don’t know how many dives the diver who passed had, but she was apparently not a new diver.

Gas supply was not an issue. The victim had a free flowing regulator just prior to ascent after an uneventful dive, was given a working regulator, and rejected it in a panic spiral. Despite the surviving diver’s attempts to surface the victim, she was overweighted. The difficult (and correct) decision was made to avoid a dual fatality.

 

[awetmedic]

Thanks for the information!

 

[rjack321]

First hand information here, not gong to say anything more specific than that (on this person's request), but just trying to help avoid the spread of inaccuracy.

Both divers were on single tank, open circuit. There was no deco obligation. The surviving diver was a very experienced cold water rebreather diver. I don’t know how many dives the diver who passed had, but she was apparently not a new diver.

Gas supply was not an issue. The victim had a free flowing regulator just prior to ascent after an uneventful dive, was given a working regulator, and rejected it in a panic spiral. Despite the surviving diver’s attempts to surface the victim, she was overweighted. The difficult (and correct) decision was made to avoid a dual fatality.

I was on this boat and towed Caroline from the diver who brought her up from the wreck to the swim platform/lift. The diver who brought her up was a CCR diver but not her buddy and was weighed down with gear. I jumped in with suit and fins (not even a mask) to expedite her recovery. Otherwise I was not involved in the CPR/resuscitation except to prep the AED. The AED never found a shockable rhythm, but CPR was continued even after she was transferred to the Coast Guard rib and then the paramedics at the dock. She was never stable enough to transport to the hospital.

@doctormike description is more or less accurate, minus a few details.

One thing missing is that Caroline was ascending rapidly at the time and the buddy vented her suit to try and stabilize her, the buddy now being light (from going up 15-20ft) and Caroline being vertical and vented - heavy almost for sure contributed to their midwater separation. There was apparently no affirmative "hold the strap" kind of connection between them.

The donating buddy (who was also in a single hp100) had 3 working regulators on them, long hose primary, a short hose secondary which was not attached under their chin, and a pony bottle on their right hand side (why right side I do not know). The buddy donated the pony bottle regulator to Caroline. We don't know exactly why the donated reg was rejected: 1) due to a panic spiral, 2) Caroline was too flustered to purge it and inhaled a slug of cold water and spit it all out 3) if the pony bottle was not fully turned on or not turned on fast enough, or 4) was actually turned off the whole time.

Caroline's cylinder had "250psi" on her gauge (again single steel 100) on the boat, but I don't know if/when that pressure was confirmed by another gauge. The police took her equipment directly off the boat.

The overarching take home messages from her death: 1) do your weight checks at the beginning and end of your first dives, take the time and energy to get this right, especially if you travel someplace new with new-to-you exposure protection 2) practice donating and receiving gas, 3) grab a stressed buddy and maintain positive contact like you were taught in OW 4) do not donate a regulator which isn't immediately working to a stressed buddy.

 

[wgw04024]

I have wondered this...if you pass a regulator to a panicked diver, do/should you purge it for them?

 

[DandyDon]

I have wondered this...if you pass a regulator to a panicked diver, do/should you purge it for them?

No, there’d still be water to purge so itd be a false signal.

I have seen debate as to whether a pony should be carried open or closed. I carry mine full open and ready.

 

[rx7diver]

I have wondered this...if you pass a regulator to a panicked diver, do/should you purge it for them?

Hmmm. I think so. Well, my initial instruction was based on buddy breathing (rather than on using a "safe second"). I still think in these terms--because things just might come to this. With buddy breathing, you don't actually "pass" the regulator to a distressed diver--because you might not get it back! Rather, you guide the regulator into the mouth of the distressed diver, making it as easy as possible for him/her to get a dry--or reasonably dry--initial breath. So, purge the reg, and then turn it "downward" as you're guiding it toward the distressed diver's mouth. Hold the second stage in such a way as to maximize his/her access to the purge button, but don't let go of the second stage until things have calmed down. Hold tightly onto the distressed diver (onto his/her harness or BC) with your free hand, as you're assisting him/her, but be prepared to forcibly separate yourself from him/her if he/she begins to drown you.

Basics.

I have had to do this IRL. Twice.

My recently-certified college student learned the same approach. I have practiced this with her, too.

rx7diver