Diver drowns during course

[Tamas]

I just heard on the news that ANOTHER diver died today, somewhere in the St. Catherines, ON area.

All that was announced is that a group of AOW students/divers exploring a wreck got into trouble, 1 diver especially, an instructor came to the rescue but the victim could not be saved.

Anyone else have any more details?

Is it just me or are there more and more fatalities in the news?

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

St. Catharines, Ont. - A 57 year old St. Davids man drowned Sun. afternoon during an advanced diving class off the Port Dalhousie Yacht Club.

The dive was at a shipwreck in Lake Ontario, about 2.6 miles out from Port Dalhousie, according to Niagara Regional Police. After the diver experienced distress at about 3:30 p.m. he was brought to the surface and attended to by emergency personnel. He was pronounced dead at St. Catharines General Hospital. An autopsy will be performed.



This was in the Buffalo News this morning, can't find anything else so far.

 

[Ayisha]

Yes, Tamas, it seems to me that in the last year there have been more accidents reported...

Actually, about two weeks ago, there was an accident that I read about in the CBC internet news, that never made it onto this site. A woman who was a vice principal in Scarborough (Ontario) died while diving. I don't recall where she was diving. If I remember correctly, she was using a rebreather.

I was telling a friend of mine who is a teacher in her board of education about the accident about a week ago, but could no longer find any info anywhere. I searched on CBC Newsworld and did a Google search, but found nothing. :06: Does anyone know anything about that accident?

 

[canuckdiver]

This was already reported in another thread. The diver was a student doing an AOW.

But yes, it seems that this has been a rough year, especially in this area

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

Canuckdiver and Tamas are referring to the one who died yesterday during an advanced class in St. Catherines unfortunately.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=110304

 

[Lil' Irish Temper]

They finally updated the Buffalo news website, Here's the story:

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/3056607.asp

Sorry it took so long.

 

[Trwmodela]

One thing to keep in mind about Injuries and Deaths.

I found from spending 21 years as a professional firefighter many deaths are medically related. Example: a single car accident with little damage to the vehicle. This just happened here in Fort Myers, FL last week. A person died from a heart attack when driving a car. I believe a lot of diving deaths are medically related and not really caused from diving. How many folks dive that are overweight and not in good shape? How many people dive with heart conditions? I was on a dive boat two weeks ago and the divers were smoking between dives! Does this make any sense?

Tim

 

[radinator]

Remember, if someone has a heart attack on a golf course, it's called a "heart attack", but if they have a heart attack while scube diving, it's a "diving accident".

 

[Wildcard]

One thing to keep in mind about Injuries and Deaths.

I found from spending 21 years as a professional firefighter many deaths are medically related. Example: a single car accident with little damage to the vehicle. This just happened here in Fort Myers, FL last week. A person died from a heart attack when driving a car. I believe a lot of diving deaths are medically related and not really caused from diving. How many folks dive that are overweight and not in good shape? How many people dive with heart conditions? I was on a dive boat two weeks ago and the divers were smoking between dives! Does this make any sense?

Tim

Well, they can't smoke DURING dives. .....You are right though.

 

[SKREAM1]

Morning Tamas
I read your post on the diving accident in St. Catharines, Ontario and just wanted to give you a bit of information on it. I was diving the same wreck on the boat in the a.m. The Tiller wreck which we were diving is in about 115 ft. of Lake Ontario water. The temperature that day was 42 degrees farenheit which is cool but not unbearable. I was diving in a 7mm wetsuit and felt comfortable except for my face. The wreck is fairly dark as there is alot of particulate in the water in that area but opens up a bit more at about 80feet. The viz on the wreck was about 30-40 feet. We were told by the captain of the boat that morning to check our regs carefully prior to the dive because they had had a number of free flows in the days leading up to our dive.
The morning divers all appeared to have a good morning. We were back at the dock at just about 1;15 p.m. and the second group of divers were already on standby. I spoke briefly with Matt so I knew that they had a well qualified dive instructor in the group. I had met with a couple of the divers the previous day when I was picking up tanks and also knew there were other qualified divers in the bunch in the afternoon.
My information on the accident comes from the police incident release. It stated that one of the divers had difficulty at depth and was immediately assisted by the dive instructor for his advanced open water course. He was brought to the surface where they attempted to recusitate him unsuccessfully. The boat was equipped with oxygen as we were told on the morning dive. The diver was transported to hospital where he was pronounced. My understanding is that the victim was a 57 year old veterinarian from St. Davids, Ontario. It is a shame for all involved. The police media report indicated that there would be an investitgation and autopsy. The boat had been pulled from the water when I was by the harbour on Saturday.

Safe diving all