Diver missing on Oriskany 10/22/11

[heavierthanlead]

Missing Diver off Pensacola Coast Found Dead | Mobile AL & Pensacola FL Breaking News, Weather & Sports | WPMI-TV | Local15TV.com


(GULF SHORES, Ala.) - The U.S. Coast Guard says it believes searchers have found the body of a missing diver off the coast of Pensacola.

The Coast Guard called off the search for the 53-year-old man, who's name has not been released, this weekend after crews searched 1,400 square miles.

Searchers say he was doing a scheduled dive at the site of the sunken USS Oriskony warship when he didn't resurface.

Volunteers with Escambia County Search and Rescue found his body 80 yards away from the ship Tuesday.

The Coast Guard says while they believe it is the diver, they are waiting on positive identification.

 

[airstream]

Well, that definitely is some closure to the family. My prayers go out to them. By the way, if I ever go missing,please dont shut down the dive site or try to discourage divers.....the more the merrier. I hope we can get more info from the impending investigation.

 

[Jax]

Wow, huge gratitude to Volunteers with Escambia County Search and Rescue for their perseverance.

 

[fyh]

Missing Diver off Pensacola Coast Found Dead | Mobile AL & Pensacola FL Breaking News, Weather & Sports | WPMI-TV | Local15TV.com


(GULF SHORES, Ala.) - The U.S. Coast Guard says it believes searchers have found the body of a missing diver off the coast of Pensacola.

The Coast Guard called off the search for the 53-year-old man, who's name has not been released, this weekend after crews searched 1,400 square miles.

Searchers say he was doing a scheduled dive at the site of the sunken USS Oriskony warship when he didn't resurface.

Volunteers with Escambia County Search and Rescue found his body 80 yards away from the ship Tuesday.

The Coast Guard says while they believe it is the diver, they are waiting on positive identification.

Just saw this on another forum:

"Just a minor correction, the body was found 30' east of the port prop.
I was a member of the team that recovered the body. "

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Glad to hear this.

 

[mike_s]

Out of curiosity, do you know why FWC would investigate? This wasn't in state water, and they don't really have a diving accident team. I just spoke to the Diving Safety Officer for FWC and he doesn't know that he is investigating anything, nor did he know there was a fatality.

Frank,

from another incident a few years ago, the FWC was involved and it was asked why....

the answer was that FWC "is the permit holder for the wreck" and the US government transferred title/ownership of the ship to them. (I guess they can claim jurisdiction based on that, even though it's out of their normal boundaries. dunno... this prob isn't the thread to argue it...)


This isn't an "official answer", but just what I remember from a couple years ago, because I was curious to the same question.

 

[SoccerJeni]

How sad for his family & friends. I'm glad they will get closure, but wish they didn't have to experience this.

I do hope to learn what went wrong on the dive.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Heard he didn't top off his dil bottle after Friday's dives and it was empty. also, if he was found 30' off the screws his dive plan changed. I don't think he would have been carried to the screws with Saturday's current.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

Heard he didn't top off his dil bottle after Friday's dives and it was empty. also, if he was found 30' off the screws his dive plan changed. I don't think he would have been carried to the screws with Saturday's current.

Rob

Not topping off the Dil tank is not necessarily a problem as the standard protocol is to carry enough OC bailout gas (plus some additional reserve) to get back to the surface from the worst possible point in the dive having completed all required deco stops. An experienced CCR diver only uses a few cu ft of Dil gas during a 2 hour deco dive with a square profile normally seen on a wreck dive. The Dil tank being empty could be a indication of some of the issues encountered during the dive depending upon what his configuration was and how much other gas he was carrying. Until additional information comes out on the state of the other tanks and his gear it would be difficult to narrow down the accident causes to a few logical number.

 

[Thalassamania]

I agree, the low/empty dil tank should not, at this stage, be a primary focus.