Diver dies on 60m deep air dive

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Griffo

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I saw this on the FB "Scuba accident" group. I can't seem to see it mentioned here. maybe I just need to work on my searching skills :)

Diver died on deep air-dive - Divernet

An inquest into a scuba diver’s death at the National Diving & Activity Centre (NDAC) in Gloucestershire has heard that it occurred on what was described as a “very risky” 60m dive on air, and a rapid controlled ascent from 35m.

The incident occurred at the inland centre at Tidenham near Chepstow in late morning on 6 October last year. Artur and Kamila Sokolowska, experienced divers based in Reading and originally from Poland, had arrived with a friend to carry out a 60m dive.

Kamila, 40, had not dived that deep before, according to the inquest proceedings, as reported by Gloucestershire Live.

Artur, a PADI Open Water instructor, stated that on their descent she had signalled that she had a problem but had then indicated that she wished to continue. He had continued down ahead of her.

During their ascent, Artur noticed that his wife was not pulling herself up on the line, and found that she was struggling, with her mask filling up. At a depth of 35m he decided to risk making a rapid ascent to get her back to the surface, but she lost consciousness and had a cardiac arrest on the way up.

At the surface assistance came quickly in response to Artur’s calls, but it was too late to save his wife’s life.

Home Office pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeater said that a precise cause of death could not be determined from the post mortem. While not dismissing the possibility of lung injury, he suggested that it could have been either the heart attack, a cerebral gas embolism or a combination of the two.

Gloucestershire Coroner Katie Skerrett recorded a verdict of accidental death.
 
I wasn’t required to attend the inquest so I don’t know whether the following was discussed there or not but I did do the equipment inspection for this incident.
The BC inflator was extremely slow, delivering only 30 litres/min. It would have seemed as if it wasn’t working below 30-40m. What was unusual was the flow rate slowed down, the harder you pressed the button. The 30 lpm was when the button was fully depressed. On cleaning it up and lubricating the moving parts the flow increased to 90 lpm which is still a little slow but usable.

Please test your BC and dry suit inflators. You should be looking for a minimum of 140 litres/min. The dry suit inflation rate is harder to test but the BCD inflator couldn’t be easier, simply time how long it takes to inflate the BCD - it will tell you the volume or the lift in Newtons on the label. 1 kg of lift = 1 litre. An 18 litre BCD should inflate in 7-8 secs.
 
On a single 12L cylinder too apparently

I couldn't see any reference to that point, poor dive planning if it's true,
 
I couldn't see any reference to that point, poor dive planning if it's true,
It's on the Facebook page which I can link to but it's not public.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1612046102342961/permalink/2346120088935555/

Karl Kruger What the article also failed to mention was the victim was also diving a single rented 12 litre air cylinder whilst Artur and a third diver were on twins. I was one of the first on scene with a couple of others, giving CPR & AED treatment with a distressed & emotional husband claiming to have “killed his wife”. Life is precious, risking your life for no other reason than numbers on a machine. Deeply tragic, disturbing and yet so easily avoidable!
 
@Griffo

Thanks.

Perhaps because she had a low SAC rate they thought it was not an issue, but all the same, if two other divers on the same dive are using twinsets, I'd be questioning their plans.

Also, diving air below 40m if she was not experienced at these depths does not make sense.
 
Very sorry to hear this. Nobody plans a dive with dying in mind, so the victim and the other divers involved probably thought their plan was sound. But without judging there are some red flags:

- Inland quary so probably cold at depth
- Tank volume (12L single tank)? Even with a reasonable sac of 15L, you are manometer will drop 9 bars per minute.
- AIR? (gas density of 9gr/L at depth combined with N² narcosis)
- Equipment malfunction (bcd not functioning properly)
- experience (or lack of, judging the elements known)

Not good :(
 
Just qualified - I , but as soon as I started seeing dive fatalities in my news feed ( thankyou padi cookies !) It flags up 'the first mistake' in yr head ( the kit used in this case maybe?) Read this one and remember this one ( Aya Napa , 4 divers raced to 40m then two ran out of air, two injured after-one in wheelchair )
Pray I don't get complacent as time goes by. K
 

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