Divers killed inspecting intake pipes

[mikerault]

Maybe bad air? I'll bet the tanks were bad since a quick cut would have severed the tether and the un-tangled diver would have been able to to a free ascent from that depth. Bad air would get both of them at the same time. Sounds like time for the scuba detectives...the detailed aritcle shows no entaglement and they weren't sucked against the grate.

http://www.kcra.com/news/10957990/detail.html

 

[jon m]

that's what i thought, too.... bad air...

 

[pupdiver]

I read something where their was still air in their tanks. So, it's suspect to me that both died if they still had air.

That makes sense if they were only in the water for 35 minutes.

This is pretty clearly a job for hard hat divers. It sounds like they were on regular scuba.

 

[SoCalAngel]

No matter the cause of death, it is still very sad! My condolences go to the families of these guys!

I so strongly dislike (read that HATE) how the media never gets diver deaths right when they write their quick little stories! Can't the AP get a writer that actually DIVES to write them? At least that would rule out writer stupidity when it comes to saying oxygen versus air, bubbles vs. no bubbles, and buddy versus no buddy issues. Then those of us in the diver community can more accurately ID issues that we need to avoid in our future dives. Hmmm.... maybe this should become a Whine & Cheeze topic.... :shakehead

Again, my condolences to the family and friends!

 

[james croft]

What concerns me is the current speed that was listed in the article as being at least 5-10 mph at the surface and possibly faster near the bottom. That is too fast to enter as a diver with equipment on. My dive team will not enter the water to dive if current conditions are 2 knots. The technique we use is to measure 100 feet along the shore and throw in a floating object. If it takes 30 seconds or less to travel that distance we won't dive it. It is impossible to swim in it and you can lose your gear and regs. It is easy to be swept along until you get pinned against strainers such as logs. It is even more of a nightmare if you were tethered to another diver. FYI, normally the current is less on the bottom and near the sides of the river due to current friction loss. The center of the current is usually the fastest moving current. I am concerned that if they described the current correctly, it was a bad call to put divers in. I have dove in 2 knot current before and was severely tumbled. Having someone else attached to me would have been big trouble.

 

[SoCalAngel]

What concerns me is the current speed that was listed in the article as being at least 5-10 mph at the surface and possibly faster near the bottom. That is too fast to enter as a diver with equipment on. My dive team will not enter the water to dive if current conditions are 2 knots. The technique we use is to measure 100 feet along the shore and throw in a floating object. If it takes 30 seconds or less to travel that distance we won't dive it. It is impossible to swim in it and you can lose your gear and regs. It is easy to be swept along until you get pinned against strainers such as logs. It is even more of a nightmare if you were tethered to another diver. FYI, normally the current is less on the bottom and near the sides of the river due to current friction loss. The center of the current is usually the fastest moving current. I am concerned that if they described the current correctly, it was a bad call to put divers in. I have dove in 2 knot current before and was severely tumbled. Having someone else attached to me would have been big trouble.

I completely agree with you about the current being too fast to dive in to do work, especially with that vis. However, I have dove the Colorado River, for fun, in 4 knot current, twice, once as a rapid dive and the second as more of a drift dive, with no work to be done. Being tethered in that current is nuts...

 

[Desert Pirate]

I have dove fast current quite abit, Im not sure how fast a knot is but if you were to throw something on the surface, it takes a slow jog/fast walk to keep up to it. Our team searches in currents like that pretty regular. However yes, bad things can happen very fast in situations like this, and tethered to another diver... sounds like an entanglement/strangulation possibiltiy...

It sux that something bad happend, I wish the press could get the story right so we could even begin to try to guess what might have happend. Im interested in this bad air thing.... Our tanks get used enough that the air is always fresh, however, Ive heard of stagnant air making ppl sick but never killing them. would someone enlighten me on this,

Anything to prevent something bad from happening to anyone following this thread.
Clay

 

[ScubaTexan]

I so strongly dislike (read that HATE) how the media never gets diver deaths right when they write their quick little stories! Can't the AP get a writer that actually DIVES to write them? At least that would rule out writer stupidity when it comes to saying oxygen versus air, bubbles vs. no bubbles, and buddy versus no buddy issues. Then those of us in the diver community can more accurately ID issues that we need to avoid in our future dives. Hmmm.... maybe this should become a Whine & Cheeze topic.... :shakehead

I was a diver when I worked in the newspaper business and I didn't keep it a secret. But I was NEVER ONCE asked about diving terminology when a story like this was being reported. Some people in the business are just totally clueless...:shakehead

 

[captndale]

I read something where their was still air in their tanks. So, it's suspect to me that both died if they still had air.

In this kind of accident it is not unusual for divers to have gas. In those commercial accidents whose analyzes I have reviewed, the divers were held against grates or other obstructions by the pressure of flowing water and were unable to breathe because of the pressure on their chests. With scuba, you have the additional problem of being able to keep a regulator in the mouth.

 

[H2Andy]

In this kind of accident it is not unusual for divers to have gas. In those commercial accidents whose analyzes I have reviewed, the divers were held against grates or other obstructions by the pressure of flowing water and were unable to breathe because of the pressure on their chests. With scuba, you have the additional problem of being able to keep a regulator in the mouth.

man...