Coast Guard rescues diver suffering from Decompression Illness off Clearwater, FL

[CrackedConch]

The Coast Guard picked up a guy suffering from Decompression Illness yesterday (7 June 2009) about 60 miles out in the Gulf and took him to a hospital in Gainesville.

Not much information is out on this story yet, but apparently the guy was 55 and diving with one of the commercial dive ops in the area (41 ft boat).

Hopefully we can fill in the blanks as time goes on.

Here's the link:

Coast Guard rescues diver suffering from the bends - St. Petersburg Times

 

[Splash-X]

Any new information?

60 Miles out is pretty far. Maybe out in the middle grounds? TBO.com had the story, listed the persons name and not much else.

 

[ScubaSteve]

So the diver was airlifted from the boat which he was on and working off of to the hospital for DCI treatment. Hopefully all ends well for him.

 

[Splash-X]

which he was on and working

Do we know that to be fact? The news article links to the USCG site with a video of the air lift:

HH-60 Medevac 6:7:09

The footage makes it appear that the boat he is rescued from is a very small dive boat, maybe a six pack. The article didn't say he was working on the boat, only that the boat was a "commercial vessle", which could me it was a dive charter boat.

I know nothing more than the article that CrackedConch posted so if there is more information that you know of Steve please don't take my post as stepping on your toes.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Do we know that to be fact? The news article links to the USCG site with a video of the air lift:

HH-60 Medevac 6:7:09

The footage makes it appear that the boat he is rescued from is a very small dive boat, maybe a six pack. The article didn't say he was working on the boat, only that the boat was a "commercial vessle", which could me it was a dive charter boat.

I know nothing more than the article that CrackedConch posted so if there is more information that you know of Steve please don't take my post as stepping on your toes.

Sorry, that is my bad. I just reread the article and I apparently DID jump to that conclusion. It is too late to edit my post but you are correct, we (or I) do not know this for fact. Below is why I jumped when I should not have.

.....the guy was 55 and diving with one of the commercial dive ops in the area (41 ft boat).

 

[CrackedConch]

When an article says "commercial" dive op, it's hard to tell whether it means a business performing underwater work (what most divers think of as commercial diving) or whether it is a recreational dive business running a for-profit charter.

I think the non-diving public would have the perception that a recreational dive business running a charter is "commercial" whereas some buddies diving from their own boat would be thought of as "non-commercial". Which is technically correct--it's just that divers mostly define it in terms of the purpose of the dive itself: commercial diving is performing work while diving and recreational diving is for enjoyment.

 

[CrackedConch]

By the way, I still haven't seen an update on the story from the papers' websites. Let's hope no news is good news!!

The way the media likes to portray diving as a dangerous extreme sport, I can't imagine they'd miss an opportunity to report an unfortunate outcome on this story.

 

[Splash-X]

Since we haven't seen an update the news probably didn't seem someone living through the story as news worthy and didn't follow up. That would be good news for that fellow.


Steve, I re-read my post and I came off as a total jerk. I want to apologize for that. I didn't mean it like that at all, I was just trying to collect more information if there was any available. Hindsight is 20/20 isn't it?

 

[ScubaSteve]

I did not read your post that way so we are all good. I would rather someone question me so that I realize I misunderstood something because I do not want to be the spreader of misinformation. Sometimes ***** happens but the fewer instances the better. All is good.

Steve, I re-read my post and I came off as a total jerk. I want to apologize for that. I didn't mean it like that at all, I was just trying to collect more information if there was any available. Hindsight is 20/20 isn't it?

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