Cabo Accident - March 1, 2011

[Jax]

Accident. U.S diver dies Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - GPS Diving

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. March 3, 2011

On Tuesday March 1, the American diver Dewayen Gerald Schwalenberg, 64 Alaska, United States, died when he was practicing diving with his wife Patricia K. Schwalenberg 53 years of Anchorage, Alaska, and Jorge Gerardo, diving instructor.

The pair of U.S. tourists staying at the Melia Cabo Real Hotel of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, spent a few days holiday in the area and decided to make a diving practices, hiring Jorge Gerardo instructor and the boat "The Blessing ".

The three divers took to diving work experience in an area of the beach The Pelican BCS, about four-thirty in the afternoon, with a depth of 30 meters.

State Ministerial Police knew the incident at 20:40 hours when informed by phone that the port was the lifeless body of a person. After the call came to the area authorities of the headquarters staff Against Murder and medical examiner.

According to statements made by the diving instructor to the authorities, Gerald Dewayen completed a dive to 27 meters with a time of 40 minutes. And on the surface, the diver said that he had difficulty breathing. In the boat threw up twice and decided to go immediately to port, but over the course back to the Navy Pier Resort, the diver lost vital signs.

The authorities ordered the removal of the body for the practice of the autopsy, determining cause of death by drowning in the opinion of the forensic doctor on duty.

Passings Thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/passings/377127-cabo-accident.html

 

[Jax]

This fellow was an incredible diver.

Obit: DeWayne G. "Dewey" Schwalenberg

After his enlistment in the Navy in 1965, he served aboard the U. S. S. Enterprise. He found that he wanted more from the Navy and applied for Underwater Demolition training. He completed UDT/R Class 35, East Coast, in December 1965, and was then assigned to Underwater Demolition Team 22. After a year he volunteered for SEAL Team Two and served in VietNam in 1967-68. While in SEAL Team he trained Silver, a German Shepherd, who accompanied him and his unit to VietNam. Silver was also one of the first military dogs to earn jump wings. When Wally was discharged he returned to civilian life with his best friend Silver. He later became a Lifetime Member of the UDT-SEAL Team Association.

No details on what happened . . . just that he "died while scuba diving".

 

[mselenaous]

Thanks Jax for the links. These incidents are always sad.
What a poor translation of the GPS article. For those that read Spanish, click on the link in the article to the original Spanish version which is easier to understand.

 

[Jax]

Does the Spanish version have a better 'cause of death'? I don't understand someone getting on a boat, having trouble breathing, throwing up . . . and cause of death "drowning".

 

[openmindOW]

27 metres is deep. Was this a class?

 

[Jax]

27 metres is deep. Was this a class?

90 feet? Not that deep. Did you read his obit? He was pretty experienced, one would think. Underwater Demolitions and all that . . .

 

[MarineResearch]

Does the Spanish version have a better 'cause of death'? I don't understand someone getting on a boat, having trouble breathing, throwing up . . . and cause of death "drowning".

Near drowning can have some pretty serious side effects, like drowning in your own fluids.

When taken into the lungs, both salt and fresh water have the effect of washing out surfactant, the thin coating which bathes the inside of the lungs. The loss of surfactant creates breathing problems of its own, including pulmonary edema, fluid in the lung tissue, which can in turn bring on ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome.

 

[Jax]

Too bad we don't have more info. Immersion Pulmonary Edema is so random, I could believe it, but throwing up?

 

[riftvalley84]

Obit: DeWayne G. "Dewey" Schwalenberg

Further down in his obit we see that he was not a novice diver and also in good shape:

"As a scuba diver for 40 years, he was an instructor for 20 years, ran his own scuba diving business, conducted salvage dives, and dove all over the world, both recreationally, and dredging for gold. His contagious passion for diving spread to his entire family where every member is PADI certified and enjoyed this sport with him........ Dewey was a strong athlete, competing in soccer, volleyball, football, softball, and bowling in his earlier years, and running and lifting weights three times a week until his death.

 

[MarineResearch]

Cause of death can be very misleading. He could have been incapacitated for some other reason that did not directly kill him. We'll probably never know.