Emergency situations

[diver 85]

Four times.

1996.. I was doing a leisurely cave dive with some friends when a solo diver frantically came over to us, flagged us down, and wrote on a slate that his buddy was trapped in the cave.

1998.. I was diving with a class and a student had a rupture of an LP hose.

2011.. I was doing check-out dives in the keys and someone else's student panick'ed, bolted to the surface, and I had to stop them and get control of the situation.

2014.. I was on vacation and trying (miserably) to stand-up paddleboard off of seven mile beach in Grand Cayman when someone started shouting "help help, I'm cramping and can't swim!"

What happened in the '96 situation??--ie to the diver 'trapped'??.....

 

[Divegoose]

Got certified in 1982, and have just over 1200 dives.

Shortly after getting certified I was diving with a friend. We were quite a bit off shore
and I was getting low on air. Came to the surface, but was having trouble with my horse
collar BC. Friend wound up towing me in. :angel2:

On another dive, I wound up with a very bad calf cramp. After relaxing the leg for a few
minutes I thought the cramp had passed. On the very next kick it knotted again, much
worse than before. Fortunately I was near the surface, was able to surface safely, and signal
that I needed assistance. Buddies came out, towed me in, removed my gear, and got me safely
on shore. It took about a week to finally have no pain in the calf.

I don't recall being involved in any other "emergency situation" over the years. I do know
of at least a couple of fatalities where buddies were diving with the person that died. I have
had a couple of buddies go into a "low air" situation, but we were shallow enough to surface
safely without having to buddy breath or share air (octopus).

I can only hope that should I be involved in a real emergency, my training will kick in,
and I will react as I have been trained to do. raying:

Dive safe !!

Divegoose

 

[Subcooled]

I have done 250 dives in 5 years.

- one major emergency (unconscious entangled random buddy, overhead environment)[unfamiliar equipment]

- one emergency ( ... > ... > out of gas > confusion > stress > buoyancy issues (floaty with deco))[several factors]

I do not count free flows as emergencies if they are expected.

 

[scubadada]

Thanks for all the replies thus far, very interesting.

It wasn't until just last year, and nearly 900 dives, that I was indirectly involved in the near drowning that occurred on the boat on which I was diving. I would occasionally think to myself that it was just a matter of time, that was eventually the case. It appears that many have had a similar experience.

 

[jfe]

Only been diving for little under 3 years and reached 50th dive couple of weeks ago.

I decided to continue on to my advanced qualification immediately after getting my open water cert. We did some lake dives and our first deep dive was in this lake. We were three students and the instructor. One student, a lady, went intohypothermia due to the cold (12C / 53F) and seemingly blacked out, in a flash. I assisted the instructor in rubbing her down for warmth while ascending from 28m (92ft). She revived before we reached the top and were taken to medical center for checkup.
Scary if you’re doing your 10th or so dive to be involved but prepared me well mentally for all future dives.

 

[Yoyodyne-88]

To a professional, the best emergency is one that is recognized early and prevented from developing. I can recall quite a few of those, ended without drama - but could have been different.

My most memorable experience was a guest with another group getting bent, offshore in Belize.
As an EMT I went with him in an open-door military helicopter evacuation, and rode the chamber with him. Highly educational.

Another interesting part of that was then finding myself in shorts and flip-flops, 75 miles from my home island!

 

[kensuf]

What happened in the '96 situation??--ie to the diver 'trapped'??.....

We found him. I had to give him an air share when we were within 50' of the exit. He's alive and well today, I spoke to him on the phone about two weeks ago as a matter of fact.

 

[Lake Hickory Scuba]

Here is the video from our recent trip. It starts with a little commentary then goes into the dive. I always tell students that the biggest threat to ourselves as divers is our EGO. Sometimes we refuse help because we don't want others to see our faults. In this video you will a diver exhibit signs of stress that look normal at first but quickly escalate. Being able to handle problems before they occur is always better than trying to deal with an emergency after the fact. I hope all divers are safe and are proactive to help their fellow diver even if its not their dive buddy (as divers we are all family).

[video=youtube;TGGyUwtfVtU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGGyUwtfVtU[/video]

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Here is the video from our recent trip. It starts with a little commentary then goes into the dive. I always tell students that the biggest threat to ourselves as divers is our EGO. Sometimes we refuse help because we don't want others to see our faults. In this video you will a diver exhibit signs of stress that look normal at first but quickly escalate. Being able to handle problems before they occur is always better than trying to deal with an emergency after the fact. I hope all divers are safe and are proactive to help their fellow diver even if its not their dive buddy (as divers we are all family).

[video=youtube;TGGyUwtfVtU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGGyUwtfVtU[/video]

The video was pretty ridiculous. The guy ran low, didn't want to share air, swam to the surface and then all the way to the ladder still using his tank. I don't see panic, I don't see some huge problem. I don't see this as a good example of a stressed out diver.

What I see is a bald guy with way too much lead. He had his BC awfully full for an empty tank and then he swims horizontally underwater, so obviously he was close to neutral in that state.

I would not have played around like you did. I would have tried to look at his air and if that didn't work, and I was worried, I would look at his air, not rely on signals. i would have been waiving the octopus in his face (sorta) the whole time.

---------- Post added April 21st, 2015 at 04:53 PM ----------

How many of you have been directly involved in emergency situations? How many have been indirectly involved in emergency situations? How many dives do you have and how long have you been diving?

I have been continually diving for the last 18 years and spent some time diving before that. I have just under 1000 contemporary dives. I have only been indirectly involved in one emergency when a diver ran out of air and tried to drown. I did not witness the event but he was saved by one of his buddies. He was resuscitated on the boat and airlifted to a local hospital for care.

I would be very interested in others experience.

Good diving, Craig

I've been around when 4 divers died. One accident was a double in a cave. I recovered one of the dead divers and did mouth to mouth on another that died. I've seen 2 people become permanently paralyzed, . I've seen tech diver students almost die, one barely lived with a very close drowning incident by the time I finished my solo dive.

I've seen many divers panic at the surface, I've seen people try to climb an anchor line in full scuba gear, I've seen a person so scared they refused my regulator at 70 feet, I've fought off sharks quite a few times and shot one with a speargun when I felt it was needed, I've seen people come very close to being attacked by sharks several times, I've had a BC fail 3 times underwater I think, I had buddies run out of air on me at depth 3 times (that I recall), I've seen a second stage hose explode underwater, while the guy was using it... that was pretty funny, I've been stung by poisonous fish, been bitten by moray eels 3 times I think, almost had my back snapped when body was wedged in a rock and surge bent me, I almost drowned freediving solo from dual leg cramps in the surf (at 14 yrs old), almost blacked out twice while solo freedive spearfishing, saved one freedive black out victim, I've run out of air on the bottom 2 times (which resulted in memorable and stressful situations), I've jumped in and towed panicked divers to the boat many times, I've seen people get bent a few times and I got a little hit once.

I've jumped in with my air off a dozen times and have forgot every piece of equipment on entry (at least once).. ever jump in with sunglasses on? I've "saved" several people who were shooting up and had lost control of their buoyancy..

Oh yeah other stuff: got tangled in steel wire and fishing line at 150 ft on a solo deco dive and barely made it out, ended up with a 40 lb anchor and string wrapped around my ankle in 80 feet and then the lift bag dumped sending me to the bottom in 80 feet in zero seconds (when I was pretty much out of air). Oh, also went pretty far in a cave with ZERO training and got turned around and sorta lost with no reel or guideline and lost buddy for a little while and nearly panicked-luckily girlfriend knew way out.

And more... rolled off the side of a boat and my light was trapped on the gunwale, leaving me 3/4 out of the water, hanging by the light lanyard clipped to my waist and screaming for the capt to cut the line - but is snapped pretty quickly.

Those are some of the things I've seen.. Diving for 40 years.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Three times.
First time followed a DM when I shouldn't have and ran out of air as a new diver. Dm was told what to do as I was too low to follow the rest of the group. She ignored the instructions and told me to follow her. Biggest reason I no longer do DM led dives and advise my students to ignore any DM or Instructor (including me) who asks them to do anything they have doubts about without an explanation. Completely. Instructor happened to be right there. Got me to the surface on his octo. DM never did ask if I was ok.

2nd time. First dive off of Monterrey was also my first ocean rescue assist. AOW diver with no colder water experience. Got distressed and DM went sailing over my head after him. Followed and assisted with tow and gear stripping.

3rd time. Local quarry. Double rescue. Was teaching an UW Nav class and a couple not with the class were kinda following. I could tell they were new and sort of had my sixth sense going. All of a sudden I sensed something was not right. Surface to see the male in some distress. Turned out he snorted some water and was coughing and could not catch his breath. I started towards them just as the female confused her waist belt with her weight belt. She dropped out of her BC with about 12 lbs of lead on her waist. I got to her under water just as her reg was ripped out of her mouth. Gave her my octo and dumped her belt with the other hand and got her to the surface. Water was about 12 ft deep there. I called to a student (who had done my rescue skills workshop) to come tend to her while I checked on the male, who by now was starting to panic due to seeing his wife going under. Managed to calm him down and we towed them both in. Put the male on O2 as he was having trouble catching his breath. Other than pride and ego's no damage done.

Other times I have stopped divers from getting in the water with trapped octo's, inflators not hooked up, suicide clips halfway open near or actually snagged on a line between features.
These things are one of the reasons I dive solo whenever I can. Sometimes with no one else on the site. It's less stressful.

Certed since 2004 and coming up on around 750 dives.