Diver drowns on Dive Boat Karen, Brooklyn, NY

[spankey]

If they saw him in the water like that, why wait till he has gone under. Divers should have been in the water ready to help. I know you don’t approach a panicky diver but you get yourself ready. I am sorry about what happened but this should have been avoided. If the skipper was any good he should have moved the boat in and get the O2 ready etc etc

very sad

 

[Mr.X]

If they saw him in the water like that, why wait till he has gone under. Divers should have been in the water ready to help. I know you don’t approach a panicky diver but you get yourself ready. I am sorry about what happened but this should have been avoided. If the skipper was any good he should have moved the boat in and get the O2 ready etc etc

very sad

You are speculating. Not good practice to display what you don't know.

 

[spankey]

Granted, I am only going on the “facts” stated in the original post, but come-on they all saw him on the surface and were shouting to him to remove his weight belt. It only takes 1 person to shout and 1 person to enter the water to provide assistance.

 

[Doubles]

Granted, I am only going on the “facts” stated in the original post, but come-on they all saw him on the surface and were shouting to him to remove his weight belt. It only takes 1 person to shout and 1 person to enter the water to provide assistance.

There are facts that you do not know. You may have asked whether everyone was in the boat yet or not, how far away were they when he surfaced, what were the surface conditions, was there a current, how strong, which direction, where was the sun.

They may very well have been manuevering towards him and he may have gone under before getting close enough to get someone in the water.

The one thing you NEVER DO is put another person's life in jeopardy attempting a rescue.

To make a statement such as you did regarding the capt without knowing the answers to these questions is based on assumptions on your part. Bad move -

Condolences to the family.

 

[gregorio]

If they saw him in the water like that, why wait till he has gone under. Divers should have been in the water ready to help. I know you don’t approach a panicky diver but you get yourself ready. I am sorry about what happened but this should have been avoided. If the skipper was any good he should have moved the boat in and get the O2 ready etc etc

very sad

How can you talk like this?
Mr know-it-all you can judge people on a little summary, think about these people that where there, do you think they need to hear it? If there has been fault comited by the captain or other people it think the police will find out, but I don't see what your comment bring to the event, does it help to avoid it next time? Does it help witness and famillly to recover? I am shocked.
Shame on you.

 

[mislav]

How can you talk like this?

Trying to analyze what went wrong maybe?

I would also like to have more info on this accident. The guy surfaced 150 ft from the boat in panic mode. There's shouting and advice being thrown at him. As soon as the crew realized the situation was serious they reacted but it was too late.

And all that on a shallow dive - 60 ft!

Must have been at least some heavy current if they couldn't find his body. I suppose he wasn't being attacked or bitten by something?

We desperately need more info to be able to analyze how this could have happened.

My condolences to the family.

 

[gregorio]

Trying to analyze what went wrong maybe?

I think trying to analyze what went wrong is right, but i think what the masked smiley did was judging without information.

 

[Seuss]

If they saw him in the water like that, why wait till he has gone under. Divers should have been in the water ready to help. I know you don’t approach a panicky diver but you get yourself ready. I am sorry about what happened but this should have been avoided. If the skipper was any good he should have moved the boat in and get the O2 ready etc etc

very sad

I won't bother with the condemnation, as I would be repeating what others have already said. However, remember that an accident such as this can go from start to end in just a handful of seconds, easily less than half a minute. Twenty seconds is not much time to implement a safe rescue.

Avoiding speculation about this accident, and speaking in general... just a few things that come to mind...

1) Anybody still in the water? I can't start the prop until I have a head count.

2) Diving at a wreck, probably tied into the wreck. Gotta take time to cut the anchor line, start the engine, etc.

3) Cold water. How many people are still wearing parts of their dry suits. How long does it take to suit back up, or disrobe? If they enter the water half dressed, they will become the next victim.

4) Water conditions... how much swell, how cold, how much current? If I jump in the water, will I even be able to see the victim? Will I become the next victim?

5) How exhausted am I after finishing the dive? Will exhaustion cause me to become the next victim if I try something?

etc...

Again, speaking in general. I don't know if any of these apply to the accident at hand or not. My point is not to analyze the accident, but rather to show that there are factors that may not be obvious while sitting on the couch thinking about how easy it would have been to be the hero.

 

[El Tiburon]

Following is the original post on this incident from the NYCDIVERS message board. No one should Monday morning quarterback specially without all the facts. As it is this must be tough on everyone involved. From the information that is available it seems like reasonable steps were taken to rescue the paniced diver without putting anyone else at risk. It is an unfortunate incident that we all should learn from and we should be greatful that no one else was hurt or killed. May the deceased diver RIP.

"We were diving on the USS Turner because our planned destination, the Warrior was silted out. vis on the Turner was about five, eight at best. He got seperated from his buddy and brother, who was already on the boat when I finished my dive. The Crew, his brother and other divers, myself included, were following his bubbles and became increasingly concerned as we all knew he must be running low on air and the relatively strong current was carrying him further away from the boat. He eventually surfaced about 150 feet from the boat, and in a panic began flailing his arms. The Captain and others were yelling at him to drop his weight belt, inflate his BC, swim to the line. When we noticed he had removed his mask three divers donned their masks and fins and jumped off to help but he had already dissappeared under the water never to resurface. A search was conducted by several divers on the boat and by NYC Police Scuba but the body was never found.

Needless to say it was a very unfortunate accident, and a very somber experience."

 

[sealkie]

If they saw him in the water like that, why wait till he has gone under. Divers should have been in the water ready to help. I know you don’t approach a panicky diver but you get yourself ready. I am sorry about what happened but this should have been avoided. If the skipper was any good he should have moved the boat in and get the O2 ready etc etc

very sad

This is not tropical diving - it`s low viz, cold and sometimes choppy surface - you cannot just put a person in the water in a current in case the diver surfaces and panics - you could - and probabrly will - end up with a second problem

You can not start a boat unless all your divers are out of the water or on the suface and clear of the boat

The boat will be tied into the wreck - not to a surface bouy - so you can`t free the boat easily - again if you have divers still down you can`t move the boat unless you want to lose those divers too -

The crew were monitoring the divers location by his bubbles that really is absolutely all you can do in this situation. Capt Haynes *IS* a good skipper - I`m sure he is very distressed - do NOT throw out comments like that without know jack about the situation.

I did see a newspaper report that *might* be about this incident

Story from NJ>com:
Diver is missing off Sandy Hook
Monday, September 11, 2006
A 36-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man was missing in the waters off Sandy Hook yesterday afternoon after he did not surface from a morning dive, authorities said.

The man, who was doing diving exercises from a 42-foot boat about 6.5 nautical miles offshore, went underwater shortly before 10 a.m., said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Peter Hans. Authorities did not release the missing diver's name.

The boat's owner called the Coast Guard which, along with the Harbor Unit of the New York Police Department, conducted a boat and helicopter search, Hans said.

The search was called off in mid-afternoon, and it was unclear whether it would resume last night or today, said a spokeswoman for the NYPD Harbor Unit, which took over as the lead search agency.