Cozumel Instructor DCS

[Otter]

I normally try to avoid discussing accidents ending in a death out of respect for the families. However, I have 'heard through the grapevine' that an instructor died from a DCS hit during an Open Water class. Supposedly he has just returned from Fiji and basically went from the plane to the water; was dehydrated; and got bent.

Excluding an embolism and assuming he was staying above 40 fsw, I am trying to understand how such a severe case of DCS could have happened.

Anybody have any details? Maybe its just a rumor -- lets hope and pray.

Otter

 

[fins wake]

Theoretically, I suppose Instructor X could have developed DCS on the plane (it's actually quite a hop, likely involving several flights, i.e. several ascents and descents), that's to say, the bubbling could have started there after the dive in Fiji and the actual hit itself would have manifested itself clearly first after his OW course dive ...

That's how it would have been scripted in an Agatha Christie novel. If she had written about scuba diving, that is.

In reality, my hunch is that could well be another urban legend. Unless more data suddenly emanates, that's how I would view it ... if indeed an instructor died teaching an open water class on Cozumel recently, the facts of the matter could be different.

If on the other hand, it was exactly as stated in the post it would be rather interesting from a decompression/fly-and-dive point of view. But somehow it feels unlikely that such a fatal case of DCS would go completely unnoticed throughout the whole transit from Fiji to Cozumel (through LA-Miami-Coz?) yet suddenly magically appear upon the first easy dive ...

Any other views? This is all pure speculation here ...

 

[metridium]

I think the length of flight portion is meant to highlight the degree of dehydration.