Four European divers missing - Mersing, Malaysia

[The Wolf]

And let the body flowed away! Very odd indeed.
No weight belt to tie the body with the father?

We don't know what transpired nor the condition or state the father was in, 3 days, no food, no drinking water, heat exhaustion or hypothermia...physically (and mentally)"" exhausted. Under direct sunlight in the open sea for 3 days....

nobody is in the right state of mind by this point.

Let's wait for more information before we pass judgement,

 

[dsvs]

We don't know what transpired nor the condition or state the father was in, 3 days, no food, no drinking water, heat exhaustion or hypothermia...physically (and mentally)"" exhausted.

nobody is in the right state of mind by this point.

Let's wait for more information before we pass judgement,

Agreed. It does sound odd but I'm not sure I'd be making rational decisions after days floating in the open sea. It's always easy to pass judgement from one's armchair.

I do hope that at least this tragedy leads to a bit more awareness about safety measures when diving here.

 

[Dan]

I never understood the Malaysian search and rescue protocol for starting search operations at 7.00am given the sun sets at 6.00pm. That lost hour is crucial for a day light search.

If lost divers carry flashlight or even strobe light, they would be visible at fairly long distance at dark night (think of those stars at clear dark night sky). SAR helicopter / plane would be able to fly at night to search for lights at dark sea from above.

Time is of the essence. As time goes on, the searching area gets wider (in quadratic relation to time), the search becomes a lot more costly to conduct, the probability of finding the lost at sea divers drops to nil, as stated in the news that those 3 divers were found by chance / luck by boats which happened to be there at the right time and place, not by SAR.

I never understand why SAR don’t do the night ssarch.

 

[scuba2you]

PLB-s are not get out of jail free cards, they tend to malfunction, send wrong coordinates or just not work properly when operated so low close to the water surface, and a full epirb unit is impractical to carry on a dive.

Respectfully, I beg to differ. My PLB425 ResQlink in a canister works fine, (tested) and it fits tucked out of the way back near the tank, its been there for years, I would never dive the SE Asia open water region without it.

 

[The Wolf]

If lost divers carry flashlight or even strobe light, they would be visible at fairly long distance at dark night (think of those stars at clear dark night sky). SAR helicopter / plane would be able to fly at night to search for lights at dark sea from above.

Time is of the essence. The longer the lost time, the wider the searching area (quadratic relation to time) to cover and the more costly search to conduct, the lower probability to find the lost at sea divers, as stated in the news that those 3 divers were found by chance / luck, not by SAR.

I never understand why SAR don’t do the night ssarch.

The big problem with this theory in THIS area.

It is one of the busiest shipping lanes in all of Asia. You can't make head or tail between all the lights you will see from say 5,000 feet up.

And let's be honest, they were neither carrying strobe lights nor flash lights.

 

[The Wolf]

If lost divers carry flashlight or even strobe light, they would be visible at fairly long distance at dark night (think of those stars at clear dark night sky). SAR helicopter / plane would be able to fly at night to search for lights at dark sea from above.

Time is of the essence. As time goes on, the searching area gets wider (in quadratic relation to time), the search becomes a lot more costly to conduct, the probability of finding the lost at sea divers drops to nil, as stated in the news that those 3 divers were found by chance / luck by boats which happened to be there at the right time and place, not by SAR.

I never understand why SAR don’t do the night ssarch.

No Nv capabilities for the Malaysian SAR aviation & naval maritime units.

Which is why I suggested they ask the Singapore & Malaysian air forces & naval aviation to assist.

Agree every hour is crucial.

 

[Dan]

It is one of the busiest shipping lanes in all of Asia. You can't make head or tail between all the lights you will see from say 5,000 feet up.

That’s why I carry my Nautilus Rescue GPS to send MOB (Man Overboard) to those ships as they are equipped AIS & DSC marine radios.

 

[Dan]

And let's be honest, they were neither carrying strobe lights nor flash lights.

I do.

The more signaling devices you carry, the more options and backup devices to launch in case some fail.

Best signaling devices from the searcher’s point of view - update

After reading several divers lost at sea, I started to consider carrying several signaling devices, especially from the searcher’s point of view. I found this great old thread, Best signalling equipment from the searchers point of view However, the thread is over 10 years old when it was...

scubaboard.com

 

[Centrals]

I carry light, smb(with spool) and whistle on every dive and will add a mirror and a extra smb on LoB. But how many divers I had came across over last 25 yrs did the same?
Why would I need to carry a light for day dive is the most common question.
The line on the spool is very very useful.

As for PLB: I was loaned one on a trip to Cocos by the boat operator(Undersea Hunter).

Divesoft Fluorescein Marker Dye

The Divesoft Fluorescein Dye marker leaves a substantial discoloration of a huge amount of water in your immediate area which greatly increases your visibility for both the dive boat as well as air support. It significantly increases your chance of being spotted in am emergency situation.

www.divegearexpress.com

Only once that one diver carried water and energy bar!

 

[Dan]

As for PLB: I was loaned one on a trip to Cocos by the boat operator(Undersea Hunter).

Undersea Hunter don’t loan you PLB. They loan you a Nautilus Lifeline and later they replace it with Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS.

PLB sends 406 MHz signal straight up to the SAR satellites. Nautilus sends VHF radio signal to the boat DSC / AIS. Big difference!

That’s why I carry both.