Fatalities at Catalina Dive park ?

[billt4sf]

We dove at the dive park earlier this week and also on a boat trip from Avalon, enjoyed all dives, especially the boat dives.

The boat captain told us that there had been 8 fatalities at the dive park last year. We were incredulous! Seems hard to believe that there could be so many fatalities at what seems like such a safe place.

Does anyone have knowledge about this?

My apologies if I posted this in the wrong forum. I am new to scuba board.

Bill

 

[drbill]

I'm not sure about the number of fatalities last year. Yes, they do occur here. Consider the number of people diving here and the number of students and newly certified divers that choose to come here. These are undoubtedly factors.

I was away in Florida a good part of this year, but I'm pretty sure there have been no fatalities in the dive park so far this year.

I also find it difficult to understand when a "dive fatality" or incident is actually due to an underlying medical problem but is listed as a SCUBA fatality. Do we attribute death by heart attack to driving a car on the 405, or flying in an airplane or playing a round of golf?

 

[muzikbiz22]

"what seems like such a safe place"

Anything can happen at anytime at any dive site.

 

[TSandM]

The thing about diving is that, if it's done with a modicum of care, it's an amazingly safe activity for something that takes place in an environment where we require life support to exist. But if it's done carelessly, it can be very unforgiving.

We have deaths every year in Seattle, at benign training sites. When they are not medical problems, they generally involve some combination of poor planning, poor judgment, poor emergency skills, and panic.

 

[billt4sf]

I was told that about a million people visit Catalina each year. If 1% of them went diving (and I suspect it is more) that is 10,000 people. If 8 of them die, that is a fatality rate of 0.08 % on an annual basis. So I guess I answered my own question. Still, it seems like alot -- nearly one a month during the season.

 

[fnfalman]

I don't know about 8 fatalities last year but I remembered reading about at least two, of which sounded like the deaths were caused by drowning (duh!) that were induced by physical ailment.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

The boat captain told us that there had been 8 fatalities at the dive park last year.

FYI, I'm the Forensic Consultant to the L.A. County Coroner for scuba fatfralties.

Simply put, the boat captain is wrong. We had a TOTAL of 7 scuba fatalities in Los Angeles County in 2011. They were certainly not all at the Park (which is in LA County jurisdiction). Top of my head I'd say two or three fatalities in the Park in calendar year 2011.

(For those wondering, so far in 2012 . . . knock on wood . . . we've had only one, and it also did not occur within the boundaries of the Park.)

We were incredulous! Seems hard to believe that there could be so many fatalities at what seems like such a safe place.

Anytime you're underwater, it's not "safe". One of the issues with the Park is that divers can be lulled into a false sense of security thinking it's a "safe" environment, they get lax, make a mistake, and can't recover from it. If something goes wrong, ANY dive in ANY location can be hazardous to your health if you're not ready-to-respond to whatever emergencies that might occur (the most serious IMHO being out-of-air).

Dive within your comfort zone, your training, and your experience, and you'll go a long way to mitgating those risks. Our studies have shown that 2/3 of the fatalities are triggered by diver error. Dive smarter and more aware/alert and significantly reduce the risk of becoming a statistic.

- Ken

 

[billt4sf]

Ken, Thanks for your clarification. Normally I'd say "keep up the good work" but in this case I feel like saying "Here's hoping you're not needed" and I'm sure you'll agree with me!

- Bill

 

[drbill]

Thanks Ken for yours. Good to have real numbers inserted into the discussion to correct the stats!

This weekend we had an emergency response to the park... all for a local instructor who was simply enjoying a long dive by himself. Made for a bit of unnecessary drama during the Gold Star Dive, but illustrated how quickly our emergency personnel can respond to possible incidents. This should be reassuring to anyone diving the park... response times are quite fast SHOULD something happen. Let's hope it doesn't.

 

[billt4sf]

Hi Dr Bill:

Could you be more specific about about what emergency responders there are on the island? Do you live on the island?

- (non-Dr.) Bill