Fatality in the Vandenberg Wreck, Key West Florida

[Arcilux]

From Monroe County Sheriff Office - MCSO - Florida Keys

Man dies in dive incident on Vandenberg wreck off Key West

A 52-year-old Key West man was rushed to Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island Saturday afternoon after he was found unconscious inside the Vandenberg wreck in about 110 feet of water.

Brigham Robert Thompson was pronounced dead at the hospital at 1:34 p.m.

Thompson was diving with Captain’s Corner Dive Center charters aboard the vessel Sea Eagle. Thompson’s dive partner stated that he motioned to Thompson that he needed to surface, but Thompson didn’t join him and instead went into a lower room on the wreck.

The dive partner stated that Thompson was still in the wreck and he lost sight of him as he was surfacing. The dive captain then went down and found Thompson inside the wreck, about 25 feet from the exit of the wreck in about 110 feet of water. The captain stated Thompson was only wearing a mask at that time and that Thompson had removed his other dive gear.

The captain brought Thompson to the surface whereupon CPR began. The captain then took the vessel to Coast Guard Station Key West where paramedics took Thompson to the hospital.

No foul play is suspected.

Autopsy results are pending.

Sounds like maybe narc? Terrible to see the Facebook comments attacking the buddy, but unfortunately we always get a lot of non-divers who get riled up whenever these incidents are reported. Captain's Corner is my usual dive shop, so this one hit close to home. Gotta be terrible for the family, the buddy, and the dive crew.

 

[Dan]

Sad situation. Condolences to his family & friends.

What happened with buddy system, especially at 110’ depth.

I wonder if Thompson went OOA inside the wreck & passed out when he tried to get out. Did his gear got entangled inside the wreck & the site became completely silt out as he panicked and trashing around to untangle himself to where the only way to escape is by removing his gears?

 

[HazeGray]

Sad situation. Condolences to his family & friends.

What happened with buddy system, especially at 110’ depth.

I wonder if Thompson went OOA inside the wreck & passed out when he tried to get out. Did his gear got entangled inside the wreck & the site became completely silt out as he panicked and trashing around to untangle himself to where the only way to escape is by removing his gears?

As far as gear getting entangled in the wreck, while anything is possible the Vandenberg has very very little in the way of potential entanglements. Narcosis seems the most likely culprit to me with the information provided.

 

[scubafanatic]

At this point I've voting for 'narced' as well.

 

[Slate]

I don't understand the need that some people have to throw out wild guesses following a scuba diving fatality.

 

[Bob DBF]

Terrible to see the Facebook comments attacking the buddy, but unfortunately we always get a lot of non-divers who get riled up whenever these incidents are reported.

Another good reason for me to avoid Facebook.

What happened with buddy system, especially at 110’ depth.

The deceased decided he didn't need it. He was wrong.


Bob

 

[Carl_F]

I don't get the "narc" theory. Based on the report it I inferred it was a bit into the dive (unless the buddy had to come right back up.) So going further into the wreck on the tail end of a dive ain't necessarily a good recipe ... even a cleared out wreck. I suppose we'll find out more when the gear is found and evaluated.

 

[yle]

I don't get the "narc" theory. Based on the report it I inferred it was a bit into the dive (unless the buddy had to come right back up.) So going further into the wreck on the tail end of a dive ain't necessarily a good recipe ... even a cleared out wreck. I suppose we'll find out more when the gear is found and evaluated.

The "narc theory"... I think it goes something like this:

-- Near end of dive at 110 ft, buddy signaled "let's go up"

--Victim apparently made the poor decisions to not go up, continue diving without his buddy, and go into the wreck

--Narcosis is known to affect some people at depths of 100ft+, and a classic sign of narcosis is poor decision making.

So I think some people here have looked at 110ft depth and poor decision making and said it sounds like narcosis. That doesn't mean the victim was actually narked, but he seemed to be acting like he was.

 

[yle]

This incident does bring up an important issue. Hypothetical relatively new divers, maybe have their AOW card, making a dive on the Vandenberg. Most of the dive is at around 110 ft depth, so bottom time will likely run out before air supply... but both will go pretty quickly. As part of the one deep dive that AOW students make, they are cautioned about the effects of narcosis and how to recognize that a narked buddy might need help.

So now... NDL is just about up, it's time to go, you still have plenty of air, and your buddy is showing signs of narcosis. What do you do? Take care of yourself and avoid going into deco? Or attempt to help your buddy, knowing that you'll need some emergency deco and hope that your air supply is enough?

Oh... and you have to make the decision immediately.

It might be a real benefit to AOW students to discuss these kind of scenarios in the classroom setting. There's no right or wrong answer, but if newer divers are encouraged to really think about these things before getting in the water, we could see fewer negative outcomes from situations like this.

 

[yle]

I don't understand the need that some people have to throw out wild guesses following a scuba diving fatality.

Speculating that narcosis played a role near the end of a 110ft dive with the victim apparently making irrational decisions isn't really a "wild guess". It's more like an "educated guess."

But I'll agree with you that it is still guessing.