Do we need to change body recovery methods?

[mikerault]

Most of the cases I read were non-PSD doing the rescue usually from wrecks or other deep environments. Sorry if I offended any PSD divers, you guys have my respect...not something I would want to do!

Mike

 

[ReefGuy]

I've never heard of doing a recovery of a body with a lift bag. I wonder where the author did.

 

[mikerault]

Almost every account that deals with recovery from wrecks or deep dives seems to indicate they just floated the body up using a bag. Now these were not PSD qualified personel.

Mike

 

[bridgediver]

I don't think you've insulted anyone here - not to worry.

Deep dives are a whole different ballgame and lifting a body with a bag is not unheard of if the buddy has a deco obligation -- lots of stories of this on highly publicized dives like the Doria etc. If it's an organized rescue or recovery then I'd suggest that the use of a lift bag is rare even for the first responders (or divers that are already on the scene).

If the diver is on a very long shallow dive or a deep dive and essentially drowns at depth its pretty much game over - any deep diver that doesn't know this shouldn't be doing these dives. Organs probably can't even be harvested. You can bring the body up as slow as you like but it won't offgas unless theres blood circulation and gas exchange in the lungs (they need to be breathing). So its no different than "rocketing" the body to the surface - the dead body will be bent because there's no way for the N2 to escape. resusitation attempts would be useless

Its a catch 22. The drowning dictates a rapid ascent to the surface for resusitation but DCS dictates a slow ascent. If you go slow - 6min without O2 to the brian equals brian damage. If you go fast - the tissues bubble. BUT since they aren't breathing there is no significant off gassing occuring anyway so its effect on the body would be like a rapid ascent. Niether can be reversed if the other one is a factor

 

[PWCPD Diver]

We body bag the victim underwater and just drag them up with us. It makes getting them up easier because you have something to grab onto. Maybe the author of the article was refering to something along those lines?

 

[james croft]

I have been involved in PSD diving since the mid 70's and methods have changed. We now bag them in the water with specially prepared body bags with mesh grommets installed to capture trace evidence. We did not use to do that.

Years ago I have seen victims brought up with lift bags and even worse, with grappling hooks.

One lift bag incident that was pretty infamous occurred when we were doing a recovery of a boating accident victim in fast running current in a tidal river. We had obtained a bunch of paratrooper inflatable life preservers. These inflated by a CO2 bottle and were worn on the parachute harness. They inflated in an hourglass shape and we found that by cutting them in half they made a great CO2 inflatable lift bag that had about 35 pounds of lift. They had handy brass grommets to attach cords to and stowed nicely in a pocket. When inflated they were a big, yellow and round. The victim was located but the current was making it difficult to swim with the victim due to the large amount of drag and they were being tumbled by the current. The divers tied the lift bag to the victims belt and hit the lanyard. Off the victim went to the surface, marked by the round, yellow lift bag.

What made it so bad was the crowd that had gathered to watch, and the diver had decorated his lift bag with a laundry marker and had drawn a big smiley face on both sides of the bag.

 

[Yotsie]

We don't, never have and I hope never will shoot a victim/body to the surface. They don't normally weigh enough underwater to warrant using lift bags. So all of ours either come up with us or are hauled up by the surface crew.

I can see it now. Body takes off like a rocket and the diver starts a slow assent. About half way through the process the body passes the diver on his way back down.

People sometimes forget that a victim/body is evidence and should be handled as such. Once you shoot one to the surface you just FUBARED everything. Besides it’s not very professional or respectful.

Gary D.

Thank you Gary!!!!!!


We treat every body we recover with the utmost respect and care, knowing that there is evidentary issues and/or family nearby. Like others have posted, we too use special body bags so as to not lose any trace evidence. The days of rocketing a body to the surface went out with the double hose reguator/horsecollar.

We usually observed signs that the person is deceased. If there is a chance for a rescue, we also don't just pop them to the surface, but do what we can to bring them up in a controlled manner.

I applaud your tackling of the subject, but more research into how PSD/SAR teams recover people may enlighten you even more.

 

[ReefGuy]

Our team was fortunate enough to learn this lesson at others' expense. We (and seveal other teams) were assisting locating a downed airplane with 2-3 victims aboard. After three days (in upper 80 degree water) the plane and victims were found by the hosting team. They carefully loaded the victims in their body bags, which were not marine bags. At the surface (with the news cameras on), they had to knife the bags to let the water (and other materials) out. As you know, these bags are made of tough material, and required quite a bit of effort to make the cuts.

We now bag them in the water with specially prepared body bags with mesh grommets installed to capture trace evidence. We did not use to do that.

 

[james croft]

You can get plastic grommets in the camping section at walmart and get some screen and sandwich the screen between the grommet halves. It help keeps evidence from being lost and allows water to run out for easier handling..

 

[ReefGuy]

Our bags already have a mesh filter. And I bet Sarasota county's do as well.