Diving the Thistlegorm: A Fatal Accident on the Red Sea (Blog)

[k374]

Randomly came across this blog account:

Diving the Thistlegorm: A Fatal Accident on the Red Sea - The International Journal of Sport and Leisure - BootsnAll Travelogues

not sure if it has been posted already but it was a very interesting read!!!

 

[peterrobbemond]

Upon reading this, 1 thing comes to my mind; I've been diving in Hurghada in Juli for a week. One day the boat we dove from started his propellors while I was behind the boat still in the water, trying to reach the boatladder. I've been very lucky that the propellors pushed me back about 20 meters behind the boat, instead of sucking me underneath it. The crew of my boat responded very well actually; they responded immediately, shouting at the captain and telling him to stop, angry at the captain etc. But still, if the boat would've turned it's propellors in the opposite direction, the same thing could've happened to me. I never thought of it this way, until now.

 

[Louie]

Thanks for posting.

One thing I remember about the popular dive sites in the Red Sea like the Thistlegorm is that they can get incredibly crowded and the goings-on can get chaotic. I wondered how no serious mishaps occurred under these conditions (there were many non-threatening things such as divers getting on the wrong RIB and ending up back in the wrong dive boat).

The author of this article advises about diving out of Sharm: "..be careful and don't rely on your instructor or the crew of the boat to look our for your safety and well-being."

I would repeat this for many dive sites in the world. At the end of the day, a person's safety and well-being depends on their actions, vigilance and good judgement. Also, Standards of safety and protocols will vary greatly around the world (something that can shock many divers when they go to a developing country for the first time).

Dive safe

 

[Hatul]

There have been documented deaths of divers being sucked in propellers in reverse, as the captain attempts to help the divers approach the boat from behind by backing up.

From the description of the events it does not sound like there was any attempt made to stop the bleeding with pressure and tourniquet.

Adam

 

[Hatul]

Thanks for posting.

One thing I remember about the popular dive sites in the Red Sea like the Thistlegorm is that they can get incredibly crowded and the goings-on can get chaotic. I wondered how no serious mishaps occurred under these conditions (there were many non-threatening things such as divers getting on the wrong RIB and ending up back in the wrong dive boat).

The author of this article advises about diving out of Sharm: "..be careful and don't rely on your instructor or the crew of the boat to look our for your safety and well-being."

I would repeat this for many dive sites in the world. At the end of the day, a person's safety and well-being depends on their actions, vigilance and good judgement. Also, Standards of safety and protocols will vary greatly around the world (something that can shock many divers when they go to a developing country for the first time).

Dive safe

Nor can you rely on anyone else to check your gear.