Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[Altamira]

I would think it would be very difficult for a DM at Coz, with the currents and a drift dive operation, to surface with a sick diver, get the diver safely on board, and then re-locate the diving group. I am very surprised the DM did not send the diver's buddy to the surface with the diver, instead of doing it himself, or take the whole group up until the problem was resolved. The focus should have been on the distressed diver, even if that meant other divers did not get the dive they had hoped for or expected. If I am a dive buddy, I fully expect to go to the surface with a buddy in distress, do what is necessary to get the distressed diver on board, and then likely have to end my own dive, especially at Coz. My heart goes out to the young DM because he is going to have to carry the burden of his decisions for the rest of his life.

 

[DiverAmy]

She might not have had a buddy. Plenty of people in Coz dive as part of the group and follow the DM without having a specific buddy. Also, the behavior of the DM is very typical for my Coz diving experience. It does not sound negligent to me. I'll assume that IF the captain saw her, he would have picked her. But, of course that's just my assumption. While this is very sad, it sounds like a fairly typical diver death due to heart disease.

 

[Pinecube]

But still, where was her buddy? Buddy system fails again.

That's assuming she had a buddy at all. It's not a failure of the buddy system if the buddy system was not used to begin with.

This reminds me of a few accident reports where one diver splits off from their buddy/group close to the surface, and it's the last time they're seen alive. Maybe a buddy would have been able to help or maybe not... Maybe she had a buddy, maybe not. Either way I think as divers we need to take it upon ourselves to ensure we have a buddy, even in a group dive, and we stick with them from the start of the dive to the end of the dive.

 

[flyboy08]

If she was sent to the surface alone under duress, this would be negligence in its purest form!

I wonder if she had a sausage?

As a rescue diver, I would have gathered the group to either remain as a group on the bottom as time permitted or ascend to a safety stop at a safe depth until the DM returned or as time permitted....I usually wont wait for someone else to take control...that just me being proactive and risk adverse...I would have asked ALL to surface when any one divers PSI hit 500!

 

[Dan]

If I were the DM, I would make sure that she got on the boat safely & thumb the dive. Death is terminal. We can always come back to make up the group dive later.

 

[Brianh1]

Just to add to my initial report
Boats in Palancar tend to drift with the divers
Rumour has it that she had a leaky inflator valve and the DM disconnected it

I agree that the DM should have seen her safely to the surface

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Another great tip to confirm the tank valve, is to purge the regulator by hand while watching the pressure gage. IF it dips at all there is a problem. Doesn't work with a digital gage—that is why I don't use one.

Dave

 

[Ravenware]

I was the diver who found this woman, and my husband and I tried to bring her to the surface and were not able to. We tried to reconnect her BC hose so we could inflate her, she had a half tank of air. At first I just saw a tank and rig. I thought maybe it had fallen from a boat. Then as I looked closer, being carried by current, my perspective changed and I saw what looked like legs. I looked around for other divers, her head was down like she was kneeling on the reef and I thought maybe the diver was looking at something and holding a breath. But after a minute of looking, I could see there were no bubbles. I was probably 100 feet away, I saw her and had her in my sights for at least the 3 minutes it took me to get my husbands attention and swim to her. In all that time there were no bubbles, and also no sign of a struggle. Her regulator was not in her mouth. We both inflated our BCs and tried to bring her up. We were at about 35-40 feet. My husband is a trained rescue diver, but we could not revive her. I was surprised that no officials wanted a statement from us. I reported what I could to Dan. The island does not like this kind of news to get out. It bothered me greatly that she was alone.

 

[flyboy08]

Sad indeed! I hope emotionally you both are ok! Good for you for taking charge and bringing this lady to the surface!

 

[Ravenware]

Sad indeed! I hope emotionally you both are ok! Good for you for taking charge and bringing this lady to the surface!

Unfortunately we were not able to get her to the surface, but we were able to flag down a boat and tell them she was there and where to look.