Death of a recreational diver after a fall on board MV Elaine

[mmadiver]

I didn't see the previously reported, sorry if it is a double tap

SUMMARY At 1607 (UTC+1) on 14 August 2012, Mr Lex Warner, an experienced recreational diver, fell onto the deck of the dive workboat Jean Elaine (Figure 1). When he fell, Lex was fully dressed and prepared for diving to a depth of 95m; he was wearing heavy equipment on his back and had additional diving gear attached to his front and sides. Although it was not immediately apparent, it was likely that the diving gear impacted into Lex’s abdomen during the fall and caused significant internal injuries. Having been helped back to his feet by the boat’s crew, Lex made a positive indication that he wished to continue with the dive and he entered the water unaided. At a depth of 88m, Lex started an unplanned return to the surface. He lost control of his breathing and buoyancy shortly afterwards. Three of his fellow divers attempted to increase his buoyancy and administer breathing gases; however, Lex did not start breathing again. He was attached to a lifting bag and ascended to the surface from a depth of 65m. Despite further medical treatment on board Jean Elaine and by the emergency services, he could not be revived and was pronounced dead later that evening.


The entire report (.pdf) is attached.
View attachment Diver_Casualty_MvElaineOpt.pdf

 

[Kryssa]

What kind of gear would one be wearing to dive that deep?

 

[nimoh]

there is quite a bit of additional gear, but the most relevant would be stage bottles.

from the attached report, it sounds as though the diver fell to his knees on boat, driving the top of a stage bottle into his abdomen.

 

[Scott]

One would hope a CCR along with plenty of bailout.

 

[doctormike]

OK, there isn't much specific information with regards to the autopsy, but it's kind of a stretch to blame the death of a rebreather diver following a rapid ascent after a 300 foot dive on blunt abdominal trauma. If you have an enlarged liver, a coagulopathy or some other unusual condition, I guess you could conceivably have enough of an intra-abdominal hemorrhage to affect you physiologically, but this wasn't reported in the information given.

"given the minimal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, the injury would not have caused a problem such as shock"

OK, I'll buy that.



"but would have been a medical emergency in its own right."

Not sure I follow this conclusion.



"The second opinion also judged that this trauma would have ‘caused some degree of pain andthis has to be considered as a possible factor resulting in the rapid ascent’."

I guess, but it doesn't sound like there was any evidence that at all, in fact, the diver responded with a "positive and enthusiastic" reply when asked if he wanted to continue the dive after falling.


But we all know how hard it is to gear up (especially for a big dive with stage, deco and/or bailout bottles) and then cross a pitching boat deck... so that's a good lesson to learn, even if it wasn't the cause of this fatality.

 

[mmadiver]

OK, there isn't much specific information with regards to the autopsy, but it's kind of a stretch to blame the death of a rebreather diver following a rapid ascent after a 300 foot dive on blunt abdominal trauma. If you have an enlarged liver, a coagulopathy or some other unusual condition, I guess you could conceivably have enough of an intra-abdominal hemorrhage to affect you physiologically, but this wasn't reported in the information given.

"given the minimal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, the injury would not have caused a problem such as shock"

OK, I'll buy that.



"but would have been a medical emergency in its own right."

Not sure I follow this conclusion.



"The second opinion also judged that this trauma would have ‘caused some degree of pain andthis has to be considered as a possible factor resulting in the rapid ascent’."

I guess, but it doesn't sound like there was any evidence that at all, in fact, the diver responded with a "positive and enthusiastic" reply when asked if he wanted to continue the dive after falling.


But we all know how hard it is to gear up (especially for a big dive with stage, deco and/or bailout bottles) and then cross a pitching boat deck... so that's a good lesson to learn, even if it wasn't the cause of this fatality.

What I found shocking is that the other divers couldn't get him buoyant and sent him to the surface via lift balloon. I have many many questions about that...

 

[boulderjohn]

As an open circuit diver, I would be carrying minimally double tanks on the back and two AL 40s under my left arm. I would have a canister light on the right side of my belt. It is possible he had another tank as well, and it is possible he was carrying a tank on each side rather than both on the left side.

 

[mmadiver]

Come on guys, please read the report before posting. The equipment he was using is listed:

"Lex was fully prepared for the dive carrying his rebreather equipment on his back, three bail-out bottles4 on his sides and additional personal diving kit including a torch, surface marker buoys and dive computers. Lex was breathing through his rebreather and wearing his facemask, gloves and fins."

 

[Tigerman]

What I found shocking is that the other divers couldn't get him buoyant and sent him to the surface via lift balloon. I have many many questions about that...

With a rebreather and three bailouts, I can see how someone could get quite negatively bouyant, even with no extra weights.. (Might have had a too small or malfunctioning BC tho)

 

[chillyinCanada]

If he didn't do himself enough physical injury to have caused his problem, perhaps he damaged his gear in the fall. Any reports on the gear checkout later?