It is with great sadness that I post the tragic loss of a friend, fellow club member, and dive partner, Jean-Marc Depinois, who died during a dive at Carriere de Dongelberg (Dongelberg quarry) yesterday, 28 February 2021.
From the news relayed to me today:
Jean-Marc was diving with two other divers in low vis. His partners exchanged "ok" signals with their lights and then 4 or 5 minutes later he was missing.
Apparently his computer indicated he had ascended from 25 meters to 15 meters before sinking to the bottom where he was found by another group of divers at 40 meters.
He was brought to the surface and removed from the water where resuscitation efforts were unable to revive him.
From the discussion I had moments ago with a fellow club member, the cause of his disappearance from his dive team and subsequent death is unclear/unknown as their is no log function for his Joki rebreather. It is speculated he may have fallen unconscious due to an elevated CO2 concentration. From what I was told, Jean-Marc was using the dive to troubleshoot a problem with his rebreather and had a set of doubles on his back to switch to if necessary. When he was found on the bottom it was evident he had not switched to the open circuit setup which, I am told, had at least 175 bar of air.
Jean-Marc was an accomplished tech and cave diver, diving instructor, and rock climber. He was and will always be well respected by the local diving community and will be remembered for being a great person, friend, and diver.
My sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
-Z
From the news relayed to me today:
Jean-Marc was diving with two other divers in low vis. His partners exchanged "ok" signals with their lights and then 4 or 5 minutes later he was missing.
Apparently his computer indicated he had ascended from 25 meters to 15 meters before sinking to the bottom where he was found by another group of divers at 40 meters.
He was brought to the surface and removed from the water where resuscitation efforts were unable to revive him.
From the discussion I had moments ago with a fellow club member, the cause of his disappearance from his dive team and subsequent death is unclear/unknown as their is no log function for his Joki rebreather. It is speculated he may have fallen unconscious due to an elevated CO2 concentration. From what I was told, Jean-Marc was using the dive to troubleshoot a problem with his rebreather and had a set of doubles on his back to switch to if necessary. When he was found on the bottom it was evident he had not switched to the open circuit setup which, I am told, had at least 175 bar of air.
Jean-Marc was an accomplished tech and cave diver, diving instructor, and rock climber. He was and will always be well respected by the local diving community and will be remembered for being a great person, friend, and diver.
My sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
-Z
