Boy, 14, scuba diving with his dad, drowns off Deerfield Beach

[zuzanne]

Very sad, my heart goes out to the family. The only thing they said on last nights news was that the Father surfaced to get a bearing on their location and when he went back down he could not find his son. He then went to shore and called for help. They did not say anything else about the accident so I don't know what really happened and I guess we never will know the entire story. Losing a child has to be the most devasting event that one can go thru.

Zuzanne

 

[MikeFerrara]

Very sad, my heart goes out to the family. The only thing they said on last nights news was that the Father surfaced to get a bearing on their location and when he went back down he could not find his son. He then went to shore and called for help. They did not say anything else about the accident so I don't know what really happened and I guess we never will know the entire story. Losing a child has to be the most devasting event that one can go thru.

Zuzanne

They actually reported that he left the boy on purpose?

 

[DennisW]

This is so, so sad on so many levels. I can only send prayers to the family. Anything else would be ineffective and way too late.

 

[MikeFerrara]

This is so, so sad on so many levels. I can only send prayers to the family. Anything else would be ineffective and way too late.

Not too late for some one else maybe.

This article says that the father surfaced to clear his mask.

here

I couldn't get the link to work again until I registered on the site but ehre's the he quote

BY CRISTINA SILVA

csilva@herald.com


Herbert Berger surfaced briefly to clear his mask while scuba diving with his 14-year-old son Thursday afternoon.

But when he dived back into what police later said were ''relatively shallow waters,'' his youngest child was nowhere to be seen.

Lifeguards found Yannick Berger about 20 minutes later on the ocean floor.

 

[DennisS]

There was a good northerly current running yesterday. If he surfaced and went back down he could be quite a distance from his son when he got back on the bottom. What happened to the son is anyones guess. Its really tragic for the family and brings home the point that fatal accidents can happen on a 20 ft reef dive.

Two media versions of why he surfaced, so far, I wonder how long before they start talking about his oxygen tank.

 

[sealkie]

he surfaced to clear his mask ... ?????? ...... good greif .... please let this just be bad reporting

 

[DennisW]

Not too late for some one else maybe.

This article says that the father surfaced to clear his mask.

here

I couldn't get the link to work again until I registered on the site but ehre's the he quote

If the father surfaced to clear his mask, he had no business diving in the first place. Obviously, he should not have received a C card if he couldn't clear his mask. I suspect there is an instructor out there, going "Damn!!"

I've seen too many divers out there that have no business diving in open water. They need more training before getting turned loose. Again, like I said before, this is so, so sad on so many levels.

 

[MikeFerrara]

If the father surfaced to clear his mask, he had no business diving in the first place. Obviously, he should not have received a C card if he couldn't clear his mask. I suspect there is an instructor out there, going "Damn!!"

I've seen too many divers out there that have no business diving in open water. They need more training before getting turned loose. Again, like I said before, this is so, so sad on so many levels.

there seems to be a correlation between diving accidents and gross incompetance. Good divers just don't get hurt very often.

Again I reference some factors that show up prominently in the DAN report...little recent dive experience, little training and poor diving skills.

Like everything else, diving is pretty safe if you know how. Not knowing how and doing it anyway significanly reduces your (or some one elses) chances of survival.

 

[FreeFloat]

he surfaced to clear his mask ... ?????? ...... good greif .... please let this just be bad reporting

Not to mention the thing about leaving his buddy behind (in a current!) in order to do so..........

 

[midwest_matt]

Anyone know what actually caused him to drown?

I also agree about surfacing to clear his mask... hope this was a bit of bad reporting.