Diver Dead in South Florida

[DandyDon]

I hate to ask, but why was a propellor guard not in use?

"The development and use of devices such as 'propeller guards' can . . . be counterproductive and can create new hazards of equal or greater consequence," the subcommittee report concluded. BOATING COUNCIL ADVISES AGAINST PROPELLER GUARDS

 

[Rechno]

Normalization of deviance. I think a term that is often used around this board

 

[Khrissi]

Dustin has/had a unique style of picking up divers. Rather than coming at them head on and slowing down and stopping with the transom next to them, or circling around them and coming to a slow stop, he'd swing the boat around and back up directly towards the diver, hitting the forward gear to stop the reversing which put the transom very close to the diver. Seemed pretty slick to me, but other divers have said it made them nervous. Little to no margin for error. Add to that his brand new boat, over 20' larger than the one he was used to, on his first weekend of taking divers out, and it's a recipe for disaster.

I WOULD NOT be happy getting picked up out of water like this.

A blatantly unsafe procedure. K

 

[Catito]

Not in the news yet, but on Facebook I'm hearing reports of a diver dead here in South Florida. Apparently she got backed into the props.

I live in Palm Beach County. I have found nothing in the news about this terrible event. Can anyone confirm that it happened? Date?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I live in Palm Beach County. I have found nothing in the news about this terrible event. Can anyone confirm that it happened? Date?

I also live in Palm Beach County and this has not hit the news. Something like this would absolutely make the local news. Perhaps it has been crowded out by the COVID-19 news, but I'll remain skeptical until I see this being covered locally.

 

[txgoose]

Does seem odd that a local charter possibly violating a covid directive and having a death wouldn't make local news. Not to be morbid, but for click count sake it is a pretty easy story for the editor/producer to pick I would think. Hits all the soft spots.

 

[snowdog61]

Accident was on Sunday's morning splash. Wife & I were supposed to go on Saturday but we backed out for various reasons. Her sister went and said there were a few issues being a new boat recently converted. She said post dive embark procedures were discussed but even then she got partially sucked under the transom to the point where she could see the prop. Sea state was ~4-5' so a bit sporty. She was out an another boat Sunday and heard a good bit of it go down. The two divers left in the water during the incident were husband & wife and had been on the Sea Scout many many times before. I highly doubt Dustin forgot about them while he was dealing with the grave emergency that was happening on the deck of the Comfort. The Southern Comfort is a high end 6-pack so I doubt having 1/3 of your group not on board was un-noticed. SMBs are required to dive and if needed, one could swim to shore if necessary. Girl who died got under the boat and into the prop - can't say whether the boat was backing down or pulling forward but she was hit in the thigh. Femoral artery likely. She didn't die instantly and I know there was an EMT on board that valiantly tried to stop the bleeding. It was a horrible, horrible day for all involved. I have done hundreds of dives off of the Sea Scout and looked forward to going out with Dustin. Safety wasn't a thing he took lightly despite what others conjecture. He needed more time behind the helm and tragically, this is how it came to light. My wife was a personal friend of Molly's and is very tore up over this.

 

[snowdog61]

AFA the Charter bit, yes, charters were supposedly halted. Boats were still going out with dive groups 'paying for gas' - not technically chartering. Some dive ops stopped completely - others got around it. FWC commercially licensed boats were operating normally - just weren't supposed to be chartering trips, commercial license or not. This was just one of a few reasons we decided not to dive that day.

 

[michael-fisch]

Sorry, I hope that he never gets more time behind the helm. Once was enough, he shouldn't ever get a chance to do the same again.
Michael

 

[Schwob]

Girl who died got under the boat and into the prop - can't say whether the boat was backing down or pulling forward

@snowdog61 : I get your sentiment and feeling in big parts. I appreciate your honest description and not using the so often abused „died instantantly“ white lie. I get that after the „incident“ the captain may have tried the best thing that he thought was left to try and get to help immediately and maybe intentionally left the two divers behind. Does that make it right? Don’t know. Had I been in the water there, I might have yelled at him to go, go now... followed with a choice of major expletives aimed at him...

But I am sorry your formulation quoted above screems of victim shaming. I am pretty sure that’s not how you mean to put it, but that’s what it screams of. It‘s obviously not like she “voodooed“ the caption to leave the props turnining while she chose to swim into them. Shy of that the exact details of how the captain achieved the ultimate outcome should be pretty much irrelevant. She got killed by someone operating deadly machinery in an unsafe manner - at least at that time, but by the sound of it habitually.

The way this comes across to me is that a diver was killed by a captain who thinks of himself as a very safe seafarer, so much so that rigid safety protocols don’t apply to him. It does not matter that he has / had customers who believe he in the past backed down on divers safely and with great skill. No matter the skill, safe procedure it is not. @Rechno already named the term: Normalization of deviance. If you are convinced this captain is adhering to safe practice, I suggest you give some thought to what amount of such normalization your thinking may be under. Not blaming you. We all have tendencies to fall victims that sort of thinking if we do not actively steer against it. Stay safe!

The way I see it (yes purely based from what was reported here and hence just as pretentious armchair quarterback), whatever comes out at a civil lawsuit is one thing. Looking hard at a negligent manslaughter charge or such is another. Don‘t see how the captain would not look at that.