BLUF:
Based on a recent incident in Florida, I became curious if there's an OW equivalent to the IUCRR .
KEY QUESTIONS:
Has anybody on the board been involved in a private, civilian organization of divers with specialized qualifications that augments law enforcement or Coast Guard for a time-sensitive subsurface search in the open ocean?
Is there such an organization in Florida to conduct manpower-intensive open water subsurface searches?
BACKGROUND:
This thread is inspired by the presumed loss of Jack Levine (24 y/o) on Saturday, 15 March 2025 in the Pompano Beach area.
A junior diver, he apparently didn't have control of his buoyancy, suffered an uncontrolled descent and never ascended.
His brother was on the dive. Upon return to the dock, the charter crew met Jack's distraught mother. Anybody can imagine the desperate hysteria of the mother - her son was only in his second decade of life.
Both are suffering an absolutely tragic loss of a loved one. The absence of a body for a funeral makes the loss so much harder.
Although I'm not a cave diver (yet), I've been familiar with Edd's moral commitment to cave rescue and recovery for several years. He feels a deep sense of commitment to return a deceased diver in the best shape possible to their loved ones for closure. He doesn't do it for recognition or payment but simply to use his skills for good.
Finding a missing diver in the open ocean is an urgent problem that can be simple to supremely complex. If the diver doesn't ascend, no amount of fixed or rotary wing search assets is going to see under the water. Similarly, no amount of LE patrol vessels can spot a submerged casualty, not without dragging a sidescan sonar. At some point amidst an exhaustive aerial and surface search, search organizations have to suspend the operation until additional information can assist in focusing the search.
However, there is another search that could be conducted if the sea state allows - that of an underwater search by a team trained in search and recovery operations. LE divers can only cover a small portion of the total potential terrain where the casualty may be found without additional manpower or technological augmentation. Much like there are volunteer firefighters that augment an austere fire department, I think there could be a network of OW divers with specialized training to augment the aerial and surface search to make it "three dimensional".
MOTIVATION:
@VsubT and I were supposed to do a trimix dive the day Jack Levine disappeared but our Captain scratched the dive due to an anticipated deterioration in conditions. We then checked the beach for a simple shore dive and we scratched that, too. As we got on with our days and chatted back and forth, I struggled to wrap my mind around how easily we monitored the conditions, proactively engaged with the Captain and avoided a dangerous situation. We contrasted our tranquil experience underpinned by seasoned judgment with that of a brand new diver whose nightmarish death was very likely avoidable with a modest dose of preventive effort.
As the Americans on this board would expect, our US Coast Guard and Broward County LE officials immediately responded on the day of the incident (Saturday) by mounting an organized, deliberate and exhaustive search. Empty-handed, they had to suspend search operations on Monday, 17 March 2025.
Although the dive conditions were too rough for us to go out, I felt powerless to not be part of a vetted list of 20-30 divers who can be ready on short notice (as soon as conditions allow) to augment a Federal, State or County LE organization with manpower capable of and equipped for extended range diving to amplify their search operations.
It's now Tuesday, 18 March 2025 and I can only imagine Jack Levine's body is well on its way to becoming unrecognizable for a funeral for his grieving family.
Based on a recent incident in Florida, I became curious if there's an OW equivalent to the IUCRR .
KEY QUESTIONS:
Has anybody on the board been involved in a private, civilian organization of divers with specialized qualifications that augments law enforcement or Coast Guard for a time-sensitive subsurface search in the open ocean?
Is there such an organization in Florida to conduct manpower-intensive open water subsurface searches?
BACKGROUND:
This thread is inspired by the presumed loss of Jack Levine (24 y/o) on Saturday, 15 March 2025 in the Pompano Beach area.
A junior diver, he apparently didn't have control of his buoyancy, suffered an uncontrolled descent and never ascended.
His brother was on the dive. Upon return to the dock, the charter crew met Jack's distraught mother. Anybody can imagine the desperate hysteria of the mother - her son was only in his second decade of life.
Both are suffering an absolutely tragic loss of a loved one. The absence of a body for a funeral makes the loss so much harder.
Although I'm not a cave diver (yet), I've been familiar with Edd's moral commitment to cave rescue and recovery for several years. He feels a deep sense of commitment to return a deceased diver in the best shape possible to their loved ones for closure. He doesn't do it for recognition or payment but simply to use his skills for good.
Finding a missing diver in the open ocean is an urgent problem that can be simple to supremely complex. If the diver doesn't ascend, no amount of fixed or rotary wing search assets is going to see under the water. Similarly, no amount of LE patrol vessels can spot a submerged casualty, not without dragging a sidescan sonar. At some point amidst an exhaustive aerial and surface search, search organizations have to suspend the operation until additional information can assist in focusing the search.
However, there is another search that could be conducted if the sea state allows - that of an underwater search by a team trained in search and recovery operations. LE divers can only cover a small portion of the total potential terrain where the casualty may be found without additional manpower or technological augmentation. Much like there are volunteer firefighters that augment an austere fire department, I think there could be a network of OW divers with specialized training to augment the aerial and surface search to make it "three dimensional".
MOTIVATION:
@VsubT and I were supposed to do a trimix dive the day Jack Levine disappeared but our Captain scratched the dive due to an anticipated deterioration in conditions. We then checked the beach for a simple shore dive and we scratched that, too. As we got on with our days and chatted back and forth, I struggled to wrap my mind around how easily we monitored the conditions, proactively engaged with the Captain and avoided a dangerous situation. We contrasted our tranquil experience underpinned by seasoned judgment with that of a brand new diver whose nightmarish death was very likely avoidable with a modest dose of preventive effort.
As the Americans on this board would expect, our US Coast Guard and Broward County LE officials immediately responded on the day of the incident (Saturday) by mounting an organized, deliberate and exhaustive search. Empty-handed, they had to suspend search operations on Monday, 17 March 2025.
Although the dive conditions were too rough for us to go out, I felt powerless to not be part of a vetted list of 20-30 divers who can be ready on short notice (as soon as conditions allow) to augment a Federal, State or County LE organization with manpower capable of and equipped for extended range diving to amplify their search operations.
It's now Tuesday, 18 March 2025 and I can only imagine Jack Levine's body is well on its way to becoming unrecognizable for a funeral for his grieving family.