Unknown Cave fatality at Twin Caves, Marianna, FL.

[christ0phe]

A few people really showing their ass in this thread. Thoughts and condolences to all the divers who were involved! Hope you give yourself some grace.

 

[BonBon]

First off, to the two members of the dive team, sorry for your loss and having to experience such a tragic event.

The initial news report appears (not surprised) to contain a lot of misinformation which might have confused trained cave divers. Such as what could have caused a team to become separated, and why the rule of thirds didn’t work for the deceased once separated, and/or what prevented the donation of a long hose to get the victim out? Initially it looked as there might have been something to learn without having to mention any name(s).

But the follow up news article with Edd shed a lot of light on these questions. There was no rescue. It was a body recovery, and it appears the victim was a trained cave diver who became unresponsive for some unknown reason. If it was a medical event and there was nothing that could be done, the team did their best to get the victim out and not much to be learned. I have no experience exiting an unresponsive diver from a cave but know I would certainly cause a silt out doing so and have a very hard time getting myself out, let alone an unresponsive diver.

It appears from the second article that the victim was on a CCR with a remote possibility could have suffered a hyperoxia or hypoxia event. But will not know until computer is examined. Either way doesn’t appear there’s really anything new to learn. Unless there was a serious task loading issue such as silt out, equipment problem, etc.; that could have attributed to a potential hyperoxia/hypoxia/hypercapnia event (if not medical).

Thank you for this response. The diver becoming distressed was the source of the silt out and of course me trying to assist him did not help that situation. So if anyone wants to blame me, its fine. I am certianly questioning myself about what I could have done differently. Doug Ebersole has reached out and will be creating a report so I look forward to his feedback.

 

[Josh the diver]

Thank you for this response. The diver becoming distressed was the source of the silt out and of course me trying to assist him did not help that situation. So if anyone wants to blame me, its fine. I am certianly questioning myself about what I could have done differently. Doug Ebersole has reached out and will be creating a report so I look forward to his feedback.

I'm sorry for your loss. This is by no way your fault you did what you could to help.

 

[tmassey]

Thank you for this response. The diver becoming distressed was the source of the silt out and of course me trying to assist him did not help that situation. So if anyone wants to blame me, its fine. I am certianly questioning myself about what I could have done differently. Doug Ebersole has reached out and will be creating a report so I look forward to his feedback.

I don’t think there’s any blame at all to be assigned, and certainly not after the diver became distressed. As others said, with a diver in distress, you’re going to end up with silt. Trying to figure out if it was “too much” or something is simply counterproductive. You were focused on helping a diver in distress.

For all of us, it would be useful to know how the diver ended up in distress. I’m certain you would like to know the same. But that can wait. Right now, just know that you did the very best that you could, and from all accounts it seems like you handled that situation as well as could be expected of anyone.

I want to emphasize that: you did very well. You assisted the diver as best you could. One of you went to get additional help. One of you continued to assist, and yet still was able to get yourself out safely. You followed the instruction of a person highly trained to deal with this exact situation, exactly like you should have. So many people would have done so much worse. Remind yourself of that. You did exactly what you were supposed to, and probably absolutely everything that could be done.

ETA: See those likes at the bottom of this message? They aren’t putting them there because they like me. They are putting them there because they *agree* that you did everything that could be done. Believe them!

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[kammel78]

Thank you for this response. The diver becoming distressed was the source of the silt out and of course me trying to assist him did not help that situation. So if anyone wants to blame me, its fine. I am certianly questioning myself about what I could have done differently. Doug Ebersole has reached out and will be creating a report so I look forward to his feedback.

So very sorry for your loss.

Just some personal advice from someone connected to the mental health community and just my $0.02. Shut off the internet, stay off here for a while. There are some good people you can reach out to, Edd, Chris, Doug, etc that you can talk to if you feel the need to talk through it with someone who understands. Come back if you feel like it when you've had time to process. PTSD is real. Take care of yourself.

 

[The Chairman]

So very sorry for your loss.

Just some personal advice from someone connected to the mental health community and just my $0.02. Shut off the internet, stay off here for a while. There are some good people you can reach out to, Edd, Chris, Doug, etc that you can talk to if you feel the need to talk through it with someone who understands. Come back if you feel like it when you've had time to process. PTSD is real. Take care of yourself.

This needs to be emphasized. Thanks for posting this.

 

[cerich]

Thank you for this response. The diver becoming distressed was the source of the silt out and of course me trying to assist him did not help that situation. So if anyone wants to blame me, its fine. I am certianly questioning myself about what I could have done differently. Doug Ebersole has reached out and will be creating a report so I look forward to his feedback.

Please don't blame yourself, silt happens when things go wrong and NOBODY is assisting somebody without it more silt happening, NOBODY. I know exactly where you were and even if Edd and I were there and trying to adjust our gear, both of us would make some silt, a diver in distress and everyone is making silt.

 

[NothingClever]

@BonBon - I'm so sorry you lost your friend.

The memorial video by his bandmate was touching.

I hope you're not reluctant to take care of yourself after such a tough incident.

Having Chris (cerich) in your corner is gold.

 

[DiveTucson]

@BonBon you don’t know me and I don’t know you but last year around this time I attempted to “rescue” a friend that turned into a recovery followed by prolonged resuscitation on the surface by another team and medical professionals. While our situations are different the best advice I can give is this. Don’t come back to this thread, don’t dwell on what went wrong. Focus on all you did right and most importantly talk to someone even if you don’t think you need to. Ignore all those that were not there.

 

[Sascha314]

My condolences to the family and friends and also to @BonBon

Please get your help some mental advice and help from professional people. Its not a sign of weakness, the earlier you tackle something, the better is the result.

Remember you did what you can. You did NOT leave, you tried to help, and kept orientation. Its a very rare and hard situation, totally unknown and unexpected for you. And even the best with experience in it have only a little chance to have a better outcome.
I guess you should try to shut down news and internet for a while. A lot of bad comments or fake news or speculations are likely to trigger you. Thats not worth it.


I stumbled across thia, because I am interested in caves but also have high respect. I am thinking about the risk associated. So naturally I understand theb desire for quick results. But I also know an investigation take time, and even if things seem to be very obvious, they need to be thoroughly viewed at and proofed. There is no use in preliminary information, which may turn out to be wrong. These rumors will stay...
So the facts we have and which have bewn clarified here - These are facts, so no need to investigate it - are already something.