Fatality off Bald Head Island - NC

[ahava]

I am sorry about the loss of your friend. I was not there, but this to me is an obvious oxygen toxicity seizure. Where you diving nitrox or trimix? If so, what mix were you using? Do you guys do your own mixing? If you don't, do you check your mix with your own equipment?

Personally I've always feared an oxtox hit more than getting bent. Once in seizure, you are pretty much screwed.
Trimix, How to use Helium to improve your diving

The mix was checked when filled, and also on boat right before dive. The mix, the depth and the time were well within all limits. A seizure usually results in the inability to hold reg. in mouth, whichs results in drowning. This did not happen. Reg. stayed in mouth but breathing apparently stopped soon after.

 

[kbwscuba]

Folks,
This was a tragic accident and we lost an experienced diver, a good friend, husband, and active member of the community. Dave, my heart goes out to you and what you have gone through, I cannot imagine the pain. We will miss Don.

It is always good after an accident to determine the cause so we can learn from it. Reviewing the facts is positive and the folks that were there have done a good job of outlining them for all of us. Speculating on gas mixes and other issues is just that speculation. I was Don's Trimix instructor and have been diving with Dave and Don for many years. Dave and Don both are certified gas blenders, PSI VIP inspectors, Decompression and Trimix certified divers with hundreds of technical dives and both are experienced ocean divers with years of experience diving this site. I was not there and I don't know what happened, but I know Don and Dave, their configuration and their experiencing, I know this was not a training, gas or planning issue. They were diligent in maintaining their equipment, conservative and detailed in their planning, precise in their execution. Sometimes an event unrelated to the activity and location occurs. Knowing Don and Dave, where they were and their profiles, this is what happened here. I will miss Don, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and the his friends that were with him. Let's stop speculating on what might have happened, look at the facts and remember Don as a great dive buddy, friend and human being.

 

[webedivin2000]

This accident is a terrible tragedy and very close to home in a small local diving community. But before everyone begins speculating and formulating there opinions please lets all wait for all the facts.
Don was a very respected man in our local community and it with much sadness that this type of accident occurs. However there are also the unknowns that we should all wait to be discovered before anyone starts debating reguarding this accident.

 

[fjpatrum]

While I appreciate the fact that several posters here were friends with the man, these threads are intended to be for people to learn from and no disrespect is (generally) meant through speculation. We don't generally get first hand accounts, as we have in this incident, and speculation is supposed to be marked as such but even speculation has a place. For those of us less familiar with mixes discussions of ox tox are valuable to have, even if we're pretty sure that is not the case in this incident based upon aHeavyD's account of what happened.

I rarely offer condolences in these threads because I generally find it distracting and inappropriate but I do wish those of you who were his friends my sincere condolences. Also, my apologies if this particular post offends you but I want to be clear that I want to learn as much as possible from this incident. I've already learned a little bit more about how to manage an unconscious subject under water and for that, I thank you all.

 

[bleeb]

While I appreciate the fact that several posters here were friends with the man, these threads are intended to be for people to learn from and no disrespect is (generally) meant through speculation. We don't generally get first hand accounts, as we have in this incident, and speculation is supposed to be marked as such but even speculation has a place. For those of us less familiar with mixes discussions of ox tox are valuable to have, even if we're pretty sure that is not the case in this incident based upon aHeavyD's account of what happened.

I rarely offer condolences in these threads because I generally find it distracting and inappropriate but I do wish those of you who were his friends my sincere condolences. Also, my apologies if this particular post offends you but I want to be clear that I want to learn as much as possible from this incident. I've already learned a little bit more about how to manage an unconscious subject under water and for that, I thank you all.

To expand on this, speculation is explicitly allowed in the rules of for this forum. As far as I understand it, the main purpose of this forum is to try to avoid future accidents and having anything similar happen to someone else, whether they're caused by the problems faced by the victim or other ones. However, as fjpatrum noted, in fairness to the victim, speculation or hypothetical cases are suppose to be clearly labelled as such. If you're not the original witness of a piece of information, you're suppose to explain where you heard something or how they arrived at a particular conclusion.

The rules of this forum also recommend that family and friends not read it unless they have some information they specifically wish to contribute. In particular, the rules explicitly state 'no condolences' to try to minimize the emotional content, although people in general don't seem to be too rigid about this. I think most of us sympathize with the victim, their family, friends, and any witnesses to an event, and realize they may be best off not participating in this forum, although any information they may be able to provide is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jax]

Just a thought---

That the victim held down the purge on his reg, all the way up. That sounds exactly like what DeniseGG did when she had her incident. She had Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE).

According to the L.A. Baywatch paramedics, IPE is recognized more and more as a problem, and now their boats carry a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) to force the O2 into the victims lungs.

 

[mheaster]

Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE)


This thread caused me to look up this condition.

 

[Jax]

mheaster - did you mean both hyperlinks to go to the same place?

 

[Tessunderwater]

I'm so sorry for yor loss, it sounds like you did everything you could to save a great friend. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and Dr. Zantop's family.

 

[CRITIDOC]

Without more facts it is difficult to acurately analyze the accident. Key information needed is the mix he was breathing at the time(hopefully there was still enough gas (even though he ran out of air) in his tanks to be analyzed after surfacing) , prior oxygen exposure at depth, tech rig ( gas mixes, stage bottles, vs rebreather), computer analysis of diving he did that day, autopsy report (with close attention paid to his heart, to rule out a MI (heart attack)). Based on information so far most likely events are oxygen toxic seizure, MI , (heart attack), IPE.