I need to point out a very dangerous thing that happened to us last week while my brother and I were scuba diving. We were at the Occidental Grand Hotel, which is a very large, very nice resort that caters to a lot of divers. Their dive shop is Dive Palancar. I have been diving since 1979 and never even heard of this problem. There is an inherent risk in scuba diving but having carbon monoxide in the breathing tanks should not be one of them. As a diver you trust that dive company to fill the tank safely.
. . .
We begin the dive. Our group of nine plus 2 dive masters jump in the water and descend to the sandy shelf at about 35 feet deep. We all give the okay sign. After about one minute one of the divers goes racing up to the surface from the 35 foot depth. He was kicking as hard as he could toward the surface. One of the dive masters goes up with him. The other dive master continues us on. Thirteen minutes into the dive we are down to 80 feet and then almost simultaneously two other divers went unconscious, started convulsing, and their regulators floated out of their mouths. All of us made an emergency ascent to the surface with the two unconscious divers, while hoping that we, ourselves, would not go unconscious from the bad air or get decompression sickness from going up too fast. We surfaced and the two victims both vomited and had very shallow breathing - we thought they were both dead or going to die. The boat wasn't there when we surfaced because it had taken the first hurt diver in. So we frantically were yelling and blowing my distress horn from my bcd for another boat, which one finally came after several minutes. The two divers were dragged up on the boat and were given oxygen. Several minutes later they seemed to be awake, breathing, and stabilizing. The boat stopped at the closest dock, which was still a 10 minute boat ride, where paramedics came. We were taken back to our resort where we sat in disbelief and feeling lucky to be alive. Looking back on it we should have also been taken to the Hospital to be checked out.
12 Feb 2010 Friday
We learn that on the 10:30 am dive there were 2 incidents similar to our 2:00 pm dive, however, there was no mention of the problem or mention of stopping the dive or any concern. The only thing that they may have done to minimize the problem was there were two dive masters with us on the dive. But that may have exasperated the problem because instead of stopping the dive after the first diver went up – they continued the dive with the one dive master until the 2 other divers went unconscious.
Wow! The first guy might have ascended for some other reason but the two who passed out in the water are certainly a bad-air of some sort, and it does sound like CO maybe. Has anyone invited the Op to comment here?
Glad to hear you are OK and the other divers were lucky enough to live to tell about it. Terry, do you use the CO tester all the time?
I do. It's a good habit, as there are too many variables even with the best Ops. The highest I have seen to far was 5ppm, which is a damned lot higher than should happen, but does. Happened to me today on Nitrox. Doesn't prove anything as my test procedures may have been off that much, but if I see 20 - I walk.
Since I got to the Maldives the day after our sister ship had 11 hit with CO poisoning and one died I carry my $100 pocket CO tester everywhere. I don't always use it however. But if an op looks even slightly suspect then out it comes.
FYI. the measurements I've come across have been in the 0ppm to the 4ppm region. 10ppm or above its time to have a long think. Thankfully not been there yet.
J
That and the CCV accident of some years earlier got my attention. I just changed batteries and calibrated my tester last week. The Maldives Op is suing SB and 100 anonymous posters for discussing the negligence and cover-up and some CCV fans have tried starting a rumor that the Texan & DM who died in Roatan was a case of the DM trying to save the Texan. CCV will not comment even tho they promised to fully.
Who fills the tanks for Dive Palancar? Has the filling station been notified of their hazardous filling practices? How many filling stations are there on Coz?
One main station but several resorts do their own. I used to ask resorts and liveaboards to see their quarterly test results (even tho they change filters right before doing them) but most just give excuses on why they don't. PADI does not enforce that; they just require it on paper.
I've never had or seen anyone who's had a problem with carbon monoxide poisoning in Cozumel, but I've never dove with Dive Palancar, either. That said, I do always request Nitrox for my dives in Cozumel because I often get headaches when I dive on the air tanks there. Never had that problem with the Nitrox. I thought it might be CO2 leakage in the compressor (or some such, pardon my ignorance having never filled a tank myself), but I suppose it could just as easily be CO.
Ha! That you know of. I get 5ppm readings on Nitrox sometimes.
Do fill station operators typically test for carbon monoxide in each tank they fill? It would seem grossly negligent not to.
Gosh no! Very rare.
I have heard that some, such as fire departments in NA, have an in-line monitor that shuts down the compressor if CO is detected. It would be smart for dive operators to do likewise. A small price to pay for ensuring safety and piece of mind.
It is funny that operators test for O2 percentage in Nitrox and then expect YOU to double check their work with your own monitor but when it comes to CO, nobody seems to care, apart from a quarterly sample being sent in for analysis. A yearly or quarterly sample is just a snap-shot and does not necessarily expose sporadic problems. With the advent of cheap, portable CO monitors, I hope a lot more attention to this issue will be given in years to come.
I am here in Bonaire where it is a matter of course for the compressors to be located right at "drive-thurs" where there is a constant source of truck exhaust present around the compressors. The ambient air at such stations is often above 10 ppm. I only get my air from operators after ensuring that the compressor is at least 50 feet from any POSSIBLE source of exhaust such as land vehicles or boats. I would rather carry the tank a few feet and have clean air than breath CO under pressure. I also have a high end portable CO monitor so I know what the ambient air is around the station, though I have yet to directly measure tank air. I bought this monitor after being poisoned by a landlord who had not fixed a hole between the parking garage and my first floor apartment.
I am done diving this trip but plan on making it a practice to now ensure there is no CO in my tanks from here on in.
Even those who do quarterlies change their filters right before sampling, while the compressor is cool, after making sure no one is smoking or engine idling near the air intake, etc. Most stations could do more but there is no guarantee until YOU test every tank. Know what a CO plume is?
CO is a lurking potential problem in fills.
Keeping CO out of a compressor system requires good design and maintenance and vigilance.
Is Dive Plancar a PADI resort? As I recall, PADI requires at least quarterly air quality testing. Quarterly isn't enough at a busy fill station.
PLEASE CONTACT PADI IMMEIDATELY IF IT'S A PADI RESORT. This could be a real safety issue.
Sure, notify them, but don't expect change. Only comes from customer pressure.
I agree. There isn't one PEEP about this over in the Cozumel forum and they don't miss a thing that happens there. I would also like to see some facts and data here.
-Charles
Most destinations keep this caca quiet - bad for business.
Yes, but Cozumel does a pretty good job of suppressing news that is bad for business. If this is a false report, I would expect to see an authoritative disclaimer fairly soon.
Anyone invited them? Like why would anyone fabricate such a tale?
PADI no longer requires quarterly testing ... not that they felt is was unnecessary but because there were no resources to manage it let alone verify the reports.
Are you sure? Not that it was working but it would not look good for them to cancel a safety rule, even tho not enforced and it is all about appearances.
Oxygen toxicity?!?!...
Uhh, the first diver was affected at 35 ft! He would have had to have been on nearly 100% O2 (about 78% by my calculations to reach an ATA of 1.6!) to have been affected at that depth! And the other two were hit at about "80 ft."?!.. Again, sort of shallow to have an O2 toxicity hit! Air has a MOD (Maximum Operating Depth) of 172 ft and to reach an ATA of 1.6 (potential toxic range) of oxygen at 80 ft would require in excess of 47% O2 in their tanks! (Feel free to correct me if my numbers are off!.. They come from my TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures training. Oh yeah,,,, and the fact I have been practicing anesthesia for over 30 years!).
I doubt that "oxygen toxicity" is even a plausible explanation! Especially in light of the fact several divers were effected!
You would actually be VERY surprised to learn just how often divers die from "bad air"! I had a friend (along with a DM and another diver!) die at CoCo View resort on Roatan several years ago from CO poisoning. It was fortunate that no one else died as several of the other tanks on the boat tested positive for CO! The attorney from Houston that handled the law suite for the family indicated that his firm gets MANY similar cases every year!
We had a thread on that accident before the Accident forum rules were changed to prevent Condolences and before the Passings forum. It got pretty heated between the CCV fans who knew the DM and a few of us who wanted the full accounting that CCV promised. It was finally pulled. I wish that attny would post here; I'd like to know more.
