Divers missing near Marsa Alam?

[Red Sea Shadow]

You are right Mark. However, it was proved that these formations under Elphinstone's arch are just rocks not Pharoahs casket.

Me too I can't expect a happy conclusion.

 

[Arizona]

“Could well be correct – there is an archway on Elphinstone down at 56m or so and experienced (and sometimes those without experience!) often go deep to swim through the archway and see the coral formation inside it, which is 'supposed' to be a lost Pharoahs casket.”

Mark,

I do really hope these divers some how made it. I am sure the families are in shock and wish them well.

I just looked at the RDP and noticed 42 meters with an 8-minute max bottom time is listed. It seems for recreational diving they have greatly exceeded recommended limits.

Granted a small degree of conservatism is built into the RDP, but how could you expect to get much bottom time with a single cylinder of Air and expect to have a safe ascent rate?

I am currently only Rescue Diver certified and have not completed any serious tech diving classes (except Nitrox), but wouldn’t an extended deco stop be mandatory. I think this would have to exceed the 8-minute at 5-meter stop for missing a no deco limit less than 5 minutes.

Furthermore, it seems these divers would have been fighting current while trying to maintain buoyancy for an extended deco stop. It may be likely they were running low on air and were forced to make a quicker ascent than ideal. This may have added to the complications.

The article mentions the shop was checked out and includes a depth of 50 meters in the dive profile. Shouldn’t this raise some concern? I wonder if these divers were tech divers and what they were breathing?

Arizona

 

[Seadeuce]

A 50m, and deeper, dive in the Red Sea is quite commonplace, and should not sound alarm bells. Air divers do it all the time, on single AL80s, with multi-level profiles to compensate for deco obligations. They do "swimming stops" as part of their dive, and end up with a dive time of 60 - 80 minutes as a result, with air still left in their tanks.

These lost divers' problems seem to have been on the surface, not with their dive. If they did not have correct location aids, which seems likely, then the boat is exonerated from blame. However, most boats insist that you carry a DSMB and rightly so.

Please do not flame me for stating reality.


Seadeuce

 

[MarkUK]

You are right, Asser, I know that is the case – I was being slightly sarcastic when I mentioned the pharoah's casket. Granted, when you are narked out of your head it can resemble a rectangular box with a lid on, but the stories still hang in there, don't they...

Arizona – I wouldn't want to comment on this particular dive, but it would surprise me if they were diving anything other than air on normal single cylinders. This is one of those sites where you regularly see people deep on air on singles.

Mark

 

[limbo]

Arizona,

When I was diving the Red Sea, deep dives on air seemed to be fairly common.

I'm not sure if these divers had a problem because they may have gone deep, I rather suspect other circumstances were more of a problem in this situation.

The Russian survivor did mention that they all made it to the surface and got seperated there or was that 'wishfull reading'?

 

[String]

Technically most of the red sea has a 40m max depth limit (exceptions for technical diving).

But its warm, clear water so people regulary go past it on single cylinders.
Not everyone treats the RDP as bible and not all agencies teach that going into deco means you'll die instantly so i wouldnt be too upset to find people doing this.
They dont get too many incidents as a result.

The depth here appears to be irrelevent as it seems all got to the surface.

Its foolhardy to do ANY dive in the sea without a DSMB, whistle and so on and these people were in an area with large currents. If what the storys say are true and they didnt have surface signalling aids then responsibility has to be shifted.

 

[Arizona]

"The depth here appears to be irrelevant as it seems all got to the surface."

String,

We don't know this for sure. What shape were they in? Perhaps injuries were sustained that hindered their abilities on the surface adding to this tragedy. Further investigation is indeed warranted.

AZ

 

[String]

From reading the (now numerous) statements elsewhere it appears they surfaced as s group without any difficulty.

There was one SMB - id assume the guides.

 

[Jai Bar]

Here is a link to the story of the diver who managed to swim ashore (sole survivor?)- http://monfornot.livejournal.com/22218.html

It is in Russian, but as far as I understand they were quite novice divers some of them just finishing AOW. There was a Russian instructor, and the local guide. They hadn't planned any dive to the "arch", neither for setting some record or whatever. Just a "regular" dive that went odd. The "plan" was to dive the eastern wall at 25m. However, the group scattered at several depths between 20-40 meters and also got too far from the reef's wall. Apparently, one of the divers struggling the current got low on air and asked his buddy's octopus and both surfaced together. The guide gathered the group and followed them to the surface too.

At this point, it appears that the whole group was together, the current taking them far away from the reef and an anchoring boat, approx 300-400 meters. The guide had an SMB, the others waved their yellow fins but failed to get the boat's attention.

After several hours drifting with the current and failing to get attention from passing ships, the survivor suggested he is in better physical condition and he'll try to swim ashore and bring help. That he did, and the result is also known. he was taken to hospital instead of helping the search team to locate the last known position of the group and wasted precious time...

The result has nothing to do with the dive itself. Perhaps the divers with low air problems disregarded the reef, or swimming with octopus failed to tackle the current and started to drift away- the guide perhaps tried to keep the whole group together so he let go and joined these two divers? Don't know, but what is sure- it is a situation that can happen to many divers in this type of dive...

Strange, but the whole group failed to think about the camera's strobe as a signaling device- perhaps it could have helped if a boat or helicopter was looking for them during night time.

 

[mislav]

Thanks for this update Jai Bar. It's such a sad story.