Florida: Diver found dead in Estero pond

[DandyDon]

Diver found dead in Estero pond identified - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

"The preliminary reports are right now that the gentleman signaled he was in trouble by waving his arm. He went under, his partner jumped into the water, searched for him for a short period of time, realized he could not find him,"​

Drop those weights! Damn.

ESTERO, FL -

The body of a surveyor who died in a pond at the Stoneybrook Golf Club Community in Estero Thursday morning has been identified as Hugo Amaliel Soto Catalan of Bonita Springs.

According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, Catalan and another diver were surveying ponds for erosion in the community when Catalan signaled he was in distress around 7:30 a.m.

"The preliminary reports are right now that the gentleman signaled he was in trouble by waving his arm. He went under, his partner jumped into the water, searched for him for a short period of time, realized he could not find him," said Susan Lindemuth of Estero Fire and Rescue.

Despite a frantic search involving three agencies, the search effort eventually transitioned into a recovery operation.

Rescue divers with the Iona Dive Team located Catalan's scuba tank. The Lee County Sheriff's Office Dive Team took over the recovery operation.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Catalan's body was found submerged in the water.

As LCSO divers were recovering his body, two water moccasins approached the area. Both were shot and killed for the safety of the divers.

According to the Lee County Division of Natural Resources, the divers were not affiliated with the department.

Catalan's cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner at autopsy. Deputies said Catalan had no apparent injuries or trauma and foul play is not suspected.

 

[JonKranhouse]

From NaplesNews.com:

OSHA to investigate diving death of Bonita Springs men (sic) [man]

ESTERO — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the Thursday work-related diving death of a Bonita Springs man, a spokesman said Friday.

Hugo Amaliel Soto Catalan, 23, of the 23000 block of Eldorado Boulevard, died in the water while diving with scuba gear. His body, with his weighted dive belt on, was located about three hours after he went under water shortly after signaling he was in distress. His air tank was found some time before his body.

His boss, who also owns the Bonita Springs house where Soto Catalan lived, was with him when the incident occurred about 7:30 a.m. in the Stoneybrook Golf Club Gated Community in Estero.

An OSHA spokesman did not immediately know Friday if the federal agency had been notified of the death. But any work-related death is investigated by the agency. The spokesman said the agency has up to six months from the date of notification to complete the investigation.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is treating the death as accidental at this time, said Sgt. Stephanie Eller. There is no indication of foul play, she said. The cause and manner of death had not been determined Friday pending results of toxicology tests.

His body showed no signs of trauma when found, officials said Thursday.
Soto Catalan and Mathinus Hermanus Le Roux, 44, the owner of Erosion Barrier Installations of Cooper City, were inspecting the pond for erosion near Stoneybrook Golf Drive and Windham Run, officials said. Soto Catalan signaled to Le Roux that he was in distress, went under water and did not resurface.

Le Roux attempted to find Soto Catalan while a woman who lives in the community called 911.

Le Roux did not answer repeated telephone calls or messages sent to him through his Facebook page.

One of Soto Catalan’s neighbors did not know him and it was unclear how long he had lived in the Bonita Springs house.

Divers working in Florida do not have to be licensed by the state, a Fort Myers dive instructor said Friday. However, they cannot purchase air tanks unless they are certified divers through one of several organizations.

Many websites dedicated to divers state that one of the first things a diver in distress should do is take off his weight belt and not panic.

(Posted under the "fair-use" doctrine of US copyright laws that allows copyrighted matter to be used without permission for reasons such as teaching and criticism of issues related to public health and safety.)

 

[tyesai]

After being a regular reader of this webite for two years it seems the most common theme in most of the deaths is "diver was found with weight belt on".

 

[k ellis]

After being a regular reader of this webite for two years it seems the most common theme in most of the deaths is "diver was found with weight belt on".

Well I can tell you this much. Despite the popular belief that people train for real life emergencies so its second nature there are some things people just can not simulate in training. Yes in a pool and on training excercises its easy to remember to drop your weightbelt but when your locked in a life or death struggle it is easy to forget even the simplest things.

With that being said I think in reality the emergency reaction preparedness is one of the most under practiced thing in scuba. Think about it. With weights being so expensive these days to replace how many people practice ALL the time ditching their weights in actual open water to prepare for these types of things?

 

[tyesai]

Well I can tell you this much. Despite the popular belief that people train for real life emergencies so its second nature there are some things people just can not simulate in training. Yes in a pool and on training excercises its easy to remember to drop your weightbelt but when your locked in a life or death struggle it is easy to forget even the simplest things.

With that being said I think in reality the emergency reaction preparedness is one of the most under practiced thing in scuba. Think about it. With weights being so expensive these days to replace how many people practice ALL the time ditching their weights in actual open water to prepare for these types of things?

I've got very few dives but I've yet to see anyone practice anything. I think most of the people that do practice such drills are on this board.

I know I told one guy that I can get air tanks from that I just wanted to go to the pool and get comfortable in my gear, ya know, scroll through my computer, inflate my BC, dump the air with different dump valves, essentially I just wanted to go to the bottom of the pool and get used to my equipment. He looked at me like I was crazy.

 

[beautybelow]

I don't even think this case should be discussed as a certified diver accident. It sounds more to me like sending an employee in to have a look around after telling him "here is the breathy part".

 

[k ellis]

Was he not certified? By the way the story reads it appears not!

 

[beautybelow]

Sounds like a immigrant worker situation to me. I don't know either way if he was certified at any level but I would bet it wasn't a matter of him forgetting what to do.

 

[k ellis]

***competely speculation*** I would also go to say that if he surfaced and signaled for help then went back under this would be a good sign that he may have encountered some sort of DCI from possibly holding his breathe.

Bad situation none the less and certified or not I always hate to hear about a diver passing. Though I have met a few who have terrible personality problems over all the diving community does appear to be one of the best close knit group of folks anywhere.

 

[DandyDon]

From the news story in post two: "His body, with his weighted dive belt on, was located about three hours after he went under water shortly after signaling he was in distress. His air tank was found some time before his body." Got to wonder why his tank was found earlier than him? Did he remove his BC, or...?