Diver drowns while collecting golf balls

[Kriterian]

There aren't much details yet but I saw this on a San Antonio news website:

Man diving to collect lost golf balls drowns in Texas golf course pond

[SIZE=-1]07:49 AM CDT on Friday, June 26, 2009

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Avi Selk / The Dallas Morning News [/SIZE] A 27-year-old man drowned while diving for golf balls at a country club in Irving, Texas, on Wednesday night, officials said.
Employees at the Las Colinas Country Club noticed one of men employed by the company that recovers balls from the golf course ponds had not returned by closing time at 8 p.m, said Stephen Salzman, the club's general manager.
When they found the man's cart sitting empty next to one of the ponds, they called police, who searched the lake and recovered the body identified by the Dallas County medical examiner's office as *********** *****.
"I don't really know what happened," Salzman said. "The water is not that deep in that pond." He said the pond was only five feet deep in some areas. "Something catastrophic must have happened."

 

[dwaters]

Chris, check out this link here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/te...olf-course-pond-las-colinas-country-club.html

 

[DandyDon]

Carbon Monoxide. Another one dives alone, dies alone. Been certified two months. Leave young widow and a baby who will never know his daddy.

 

[tstormdiver]

How sad.....:depressed:. Remember though, the lake may have only been 5ft deep or so, but all's it takes to drown, is enough water to cover the nose & mouth (only a few inches).

 

[DevonDiver]

Solo diving, inexperienced, ill-equipped....clever...

...but it's ok....the water was shallow....

...what could possibly go wrong....

and the 2009 Darwin Award goes to.......

How many times have I heard members posting exactly that sort of question or arguement here on the forum....

 

[DennisS]

You don't need any water to die from CO poisoning. Looks like he was using a gas engine driven compressor

 

[Brishar]

Dandy Don once bubbled about using a carbon monoxide tester on any mix you breathe.

Words to the wise. Get one and use it. The life you save may well be your own or the life of someone you care about.

 

[Web Monkey]

Dandy Don once bubbled about using a carbon monoxide tester on any mix you breathe.

Words to the wise. Get one and use it. The life you save may well be your own or the life of someone you care about.

I have a CO tester (the one Don recommended) and it works great, but don't beleive it would help with a hookah rig, since what you're breathing depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Terry

 

[DeepSeaDan]

...prohibiting this kind of behaviour.

While atypical of commercial diving operations, the retrieval of golf balls from a commercial golf facility by contract constitutes a commercial diving operation, thus falls under the U.S. Federal regulations & standards governing commercial diving operations.

This sad event underscores the primary reason these regs. were created - to prevent the injury &/or death of individuals unprepared to participate in commercial diving applications.

Regards,
DSD

 

[PhilEllis]

Dandy Don once bubbled about using a carbon monoxide tester on any mix you breathe.

Words to the wise. Get one and use it. The life you save may well be your own or the life of someone you care about.

I suspect this would not have helped this poor soul. Seems as if he was "breathing it as he made it" in real time.

Phil Ellis
www.divesports.com