Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[khacken]

I love how everyone immediately blames the rescuer.

 

[Cave Diver]

Please don't take this the wrong way, and I mean no disrespect, but EVERYTHING to this point is speculation (or "wild speculation" as you called my post).

You're not alone in your thinking.

 

[Cave Diver]

Finally! You and I agree on something ! ..... Indeed.

Last time we agreed a thread got locked. You're such a cynic.

 

[deepstops]

You're not alone in your thinking.

CD and I exchanged PMs on this possibility this morning before CappyJon posted so yes, it probably crossed lots of people's minds.

Not to sound cold/callous, but it would ensure payout on any insurance policy.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Actually, this fatality -- and a second snorkeling fatality -- both occurred the same day, per a single brief story from a Taiwan paper / website that picks up international news-feeds from agencies (AP / UPI / Reuters, etc.)

Why has it become lore here on SB that CDNN is not trustworthy? Should they link back to their original source? (But typical news sites pull their stories after a few days / weeks.)

First of all, thank you for the link. I searched on several combinations of words and only ever came up with the CDNN links and SB links to this thread. As for CDNN and how trustworthy they are (or are not), I suppose if you wish to put faith in what they write then that is your choice. We all have the ability and right to make that decision for ourselves. I have made my decision after a couple years of reading their articles which I have concluded for myself (could I be wrong? Sure) were wild speculation, creatively written to impress their following and often times contained few similarities to stories being run by multiple other sources. Bottom line is, MANY here believe them to be the "National Enquirer" of the SCUBA Industry and I am one of them. To each their own. Thank you for the link.

Please don't take this the wrong way, and I mean no disrespect, but EVERYTHING to this point is speculation (or "wild speculation" as you called my post). We have absolutely no substantiation of any causes for this fatality.

As CD stated already, you are not alone in this thought process.

Last time we agreed a thread got locked. You're such a cynic.

I'm telling

 

[DandyDon]

Why has it become lore here on SB that CDNN is not trustworthy? Should they link back to their original source? (But typical news sites pull their stories after a few days / weeks.)

CDNN has clearly displayed very poor journalism standards and was blocked from even being linked or mentioned on SB for some time, but that caused some controversy - so now we just warn others: If you like CDNN, you'll love the National Enquirer and UK Sun for facts.

I love how everyone immediately blames the rescuer.

I think we questioned? She had one chance to bring the diver back, a heroic one to be sure, but a chance - and seems to have missed one we're taught in Rescue to deal with. Saving divers from their own mistakes is a part of being a tourist destination DM to some extent, and I think it was said that this one had been hired by the couple as a private DM

 

[dumpsterDiver]

....
I'm not rescue trained but I know a tiny bit of it, having been told by rescue divers and READING IT ON THIS BOARD. Perhaps the DM approach was incorrect from the start? Instead of approaching the diver from the front, that you are trying to rescue, you go directly to the rear of the diver and just grab the tank? Was the DM in fact a certified DM, or was she a DG?

I would definitely approach the diver from the front, get in their face and grab ahold of their BC if they looked overly stressed. that would be my first step, only if the diver was really flailing around, would I result to drastic action and physically haul the diver to the surface.

Also, I never said the DM was incompetant, I indicated that the story seems incomplete.

 

[Rhone Man]

Not to sound cold/callous, but it would ensure payout on any insurance policy.

I never thought of that. Although strangely enough, fewer and fewer life insurance policies have "suicide carve outs" these days (except for an initial period, for obvious reasons).

 

[Rhone Man]

CDNN has clearly displayed very poor journalism standards and was blocked from even being linked or mentioned on SB for some time, but that caused some controversy - so now we just warn others: If you like CDNN, you'll love the National Enquirer and UK Sun for facts.

To be fair, CDNN rarely make stuff up out of the blue (other than their advertisements). What they do is embellish and spin stories in a fairly gratuitious way. Nobody who knows them likes them (except maybe their mothers), but I don't think anyone has ever accused them of flat making stuff up.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I think at the next shop meeting I'm going to bring this question to the table. Whil leading a dive, to what extent should we go to rescue a diver? I'm not talking just let someone go off and do something crazy, but in this case, if I was the instructor at 170ft, what would the dive operator expect of me, what would I expect of myself and what do our customers expect from us?

I've been on boats before where they clearly tell us, if we start to swim down the wall, the DM will only be able to follow us so far/long before they have to give up for their own saftey.

Your post is amazing to me. You are a dive professional and you have not gone through numerous mental exercises of rescues? Isn't THAT one of the prmary reasons you are WORKING?

The question is not what a dive operator is expecting of you, the question is what are you expecting of yourself? If you are not willing to act like a professional and sacrifice your own safety in an attempt to rescue an individual, then seriously, what are you doing the job for?

Obviously this doesn't mean to engage in suicidal behavoir or diving to 450 feet looking for some bubbles, but you MUST be willing to stick your neck out a little to do your job. If you haven't gone over this stuff a bunch of times, how can you be confident that your reaction time will be short enough and your actions be effective enough to help?

I no longer teach scuba diving because I am unwilling to accept the responsibility for random divers. If you continue to work as a professional then you need to be confident in your response to a relatively simple situation like a diver falling down a wall.