Emergency situations

[scubadada]

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

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've been diving for a bit over 14 years, have a bit more than 3500 dives, and have been involved in three real OOA situations ... all of which were resolved without injury. I've also been involved several times in LOA situations ... where a diver realized they overstayed their welcome, and although they weren't yet OOA they knew that they didn't have adequate air to return to the exit safely. In all of those cases, I put them on my air and escorted them to safety stop, where they went back on their own air to do their safety stop. I was also, once, involved in a serious free-flow event at a depth of about 90 fsw, which resulted in putting the diver on my air, turning off their tank, and making a direct ascent. Once again that situation was resolved without anything more than a few moments of stress. Oh, and I once had a student go full-blown panic on me ... luckily we were only at a depth of about 20 fsw and I was able to get them to the surface and calmed down without injury. None of these were anything more serious than what I'd call a "routine" emergency ... that which is easily dealt with if you keep a calm head and do what you're trained to do ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Only twice - no big deal either time... Been diving since the late 70's.

Once a non-buddy ran out of air and came to pull my reg out of my mouth - it was in Martinique viz was great but I pulled away from her - it was 80 feet down and I had no idea who she was or what was going on. She gave me the out of air sign and I buddy breathed the old fashion way till we got to the DM who had an octopus. No octopuses on the rigs back then.

Was diving with a buddy - low viz and she bolted for the surface I grabbed her and slowed her ascent - we were maybe 30 feet down and 2 foot viz. Got her to the surface and inflated her horse-collar - no BCs back then. And talked with her and towed her into shore.

 

[kensuf]

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!"

 

[Steve_C]

380 dives

1. Other diver not my buddy came up from shallow (60 ft dive) with some blood from mouth. Somewhat alert but not feeling well. Crew put on O2, canceled dive 2 and headed in. Diver got better on O2 and recovered fully after short hospital stay. Problem turned out to be a poorly serviced reg that had breathed very wet at depth. Diver developed issues coming up and shot up the last few feet when could not hold safety stop due to discomfort.

2. Was instabuddy with a first ocean, first post cert diver. 5 minutes in at 60ft she gave me the OOA. Put her on my alternate. Turned out that her mouth piece came out, did not know she could breath on reg anyway, her alternate was in her pocket rather than where it had been in training so rather than looking for it she came to me. She calmed down on my alternate. I located her alternate and put her on that. Let her breath on that for a bit and verified all was good. We then finished the dive with me staying real close. I also had a pony so 4 functioning regs at that point.

3. Instabuddy in Keys at 30 ft had a mask flood got wide eyed and went to drop the weights. I stopped them from doing so, calmed them down, and took them back to boat for different mask.

4. Taking a search and recovery class in quarry the DM who was helping was no longer apparent and seen on surface. Taken to shore by others. Alert but in ragged shape. Not clear what issue was but water aspiration was part of it. Went to hospital in an ambulance alert. Fully recovered. (We had tons of emergency responders, instructors, and DAN docs around since part of larger gathering. Instructive watching them do their thing for real. No direct involvement)

Don't count these but a few lost divers/buddy's that turned out ok. In one case I was solo on an inshore wreck up on top and I saw a member of an OW class floating up. I got her attention and she was able to regain buoyancy. No class in sight. Took her to the anchor where we waited and she rejoined her class when it returned. Instructor never knew she was missing. (Low viz in bottom layer, more than 4 students, and they were following a line with him in lead and she was the last one. No comment needed, I know what I thought of this)

 

[tbone1004]

been diving for 6 years, have somewhere around 1k dives.

Directly involved in 2, both OOA incidents with divers that tried to drown themselves. Was not working with them but was in the viscinity and got to them before their buddy did in the quarry for 1, and ocean for 2 where I was assisting and another dive team was huffing and puffing their gas supply and freaked out with 500psi in their tanks because they were supposed to be back on the boat with 700.

Indirectly in 3 where there were medical issues and I provided shore support. 4 of these incidents were in new diver training....

 

[TMHeimer]

Amost 10 years, 500 dives (though a big % solo). No, I haven't been in any real emergencies my myself or concerning others. Is this a concern in that I wonder how I'd really react--Yes. Of course, I'd be happy to die never knowing the answer to that.

 

[cdemith]

Diving for 4 years, 150 or so dives. My first post cert dive with my buddy, who also just got cert. We want off on our own in a cold dark lake. At 50 she panicked and signalled OOA. She tried bolting for the surface. I gave her my octo, calmed her down, and kept her from bolting. I held onto to her bc and we surfaced slowly. At safety stop she tried her own regardless again, then switched back. Turns out she had a panic attack, and still had 2000 psi.

 

[Lake Hickory Scuba]

So many things to talk about, will narrow it down to just 2. First off, been diving for over 20 years, and have over 3000 dives.

Emergency number 1, was back in November of 2014. Had a certified diver in 30 feet of water. Due to a bad design flaw in an exhaust port, the regulator was unable to be sealed after purging it to be cleared. I was taking the diver's picture with their camera, and they were trying to smile for the camera. Upon placing the second stage back in their mouth, they hit the purge to clear it, and it caused the exhaust valve to hang in the open position. The diver then took a long breath and there lungs immediately filled with water. They attempted to take another breath with the same outcome. They then turned and bolted to the surface. I caught them at 15 feet and attempted to give them my alternate. The diver had already lost consciousness, however, still had a heart beat at the surface. Just a split second before starting rescue breaths, they began to cough uncontrollably and even puked water and other nasty items all over me. Thank God for a full face mask.

Emergency number 2, I will be posting a video, very briefly on our YouTube Channel (with in the next week) with commentary, and will post it here on ScubaBoard for others to learn by. A diver that was not in our group did not manage his air very well. Due to his ego refused air when offered. Thankfully all turned out well. It is nice to show this video to newer divers, and especially to Rescue students, so that they can recognize signs of stress or distress and take action prior to a problem becoming an emergency.

 

[TSandM]

I've been diving for ten years, with about 1300 dives, including a few technical and close to a hundred cave dives.

I've been involved in two true emergencies. Both ended with fatalities, and both were health issues that occurred to people who were in the water in dive gear, although one actually occurred before the person involved even submerged.

I've had a violent free-flow that emptied my tank, but I had plenty of time to establish an air-share with one of my buddies (both of whom were offering regs) and we got to the surface without incident. To me, that wasn't an emergency, but rather an annoyance.

Everything else I can think of that has gone wrong during a dive -- and there really hasn't been much -- has been pretty trivial and easily managed.