Diver death in Curacao

[CuracaoJ]

One diver died yesterday in Curacao, and another is in the chamber in Bonaire. Here is a translation from the news article from Duikongeluk wordt vrouw (22) fataal | Versgeperst.com Curacao

CURACAO - A diving accident this morning, the 22-year old Deborah "Debby" van der Forests fatal. The woman was with her 34-year-old friend to make a dip in the sea at Pampoen Marie after she passed out on a great depth. The diving watch the pair stood at 65 meters depth.

The 34-year-old man had the woman to the water surface after she was resuscitated on the beach right, but to no avail. The victim was already deceased. The man with serious decompression phenomena brought to Bonaire for treatment in a decompression tank.

decompression
Divers who do not follow safety rules and stay longer than permitted at certain depths, or to quickly ascend to the end of their dive, decompression sickness can get. They then built up too much nitrogen in their blood. By treatment in a tank, the decompression of nitrogen to be washed out.

RIP Debby.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Wow 213 feet?

 

[Jantje]

Typical case of a deep air dive on an AL80. High PPO2, high PPN2 and maybe a high PPCO2. A deadly cocktail.

Not to mention the air supply and deco time....

 

[kokanee]

Would that be the same Porto Marie, the site with the double reef? I believe the sandy bottom between the 2 reefs is about 100 feet so they must have been on the outside wall of the second reef and a long swim from shore. That is, of course, IF the article is accurate. The death of a 22 year old, no matter the cause, is a tragedy and there is no greater agony for a parent. My prayers go out to her family.

 

[Jantje]

Would that be the same Porto Marie, the site with the double reef? I believe the sandy bottom between the 2 reefs is about 100 feet so they must have been on the outside wall of the second reef and a long swim from shore. That is, of course, IF the article is accurate. The death of a 22 year old, no matter the cause, is a tragedy and there is no greater agony for a parent. My prayers go out to her family.

No, it was at Marie Pampoen. Different site.

From the shore, you get first the reef which is quite short and then it goes down to around 230 feet where you have a sandy patch which is also quite short and then it goes down to +500 feet.

At bays like Porto Marie the sandy bottom at around 230 feet is much longer before the big drop.

 

[drrich2]

Typical case of a deep air dive on an AL80.

Sounds like it, but has that been established? Just want to make sure it wasn't a technical dive with different equipment & training, etc...

Richard.

 

[CuracaoJ]

It wasn't a technical dive. They were using regular AL 80s. Local radio here is mentioning a sailboat according some news comments, I don't know what that is about. I *speculate* that it was not a planned deep dive, but rather that something happened and then they wound up that deep. Hopefully the diver that is in the tank in Bonaire will eventually be able to shed some light on what happened. He is in our thoughts and prayers down here.

 

[kokanee]

Yes, different site. Thanks. Now wondering 'why?' I guess the the story will eventually come out but sadly the lesson has already been learned.

 

[Lemna]

A local newspaper published an interview with the victim's mother, who was on the beach waiting for her. It is heartbreaking: she is a medical doctor and managed to resuscitate her daughter, helped by employees of the dive school. They managed to restart her heart, but it wasn't stable. She asked for her daughter to be intubated to drain fluids. Oxygen was administered to both victims. After 15 minutes two ambulances arrived, but they seemed to have worked slowly and inefficiently. They forgot to bring instruments to the victims and a throng of onlookers made it hard to take the victims to the ambulances. Her daughters' condition was stable on the way to the hospital, but she died there.

Her daughters' boyfriend, the second victim, was conscious and told her on the beach: "I've made a stupid mistake'. He has been transported to the deco chamber on Bonaire (as the one on Curacao is not functional, apparently). There will be an autopsy and an investigation of their dive computers.

 

[shark63]

So so sad, but I hate to read about these divers that believe rules are for everybody else but for them. We don not make rules up to harras or limit you but for your safety and enjoyement.