Four European divers missing - Mersing, Malaysia

[SaltyFrog]

There are always unpredictable situations, where the currents take you away from the divesite. Experienced that a couple of times in the Maldives.

I've always been very curious about this, as I've never experienced it.

What does it feel like?

Is it like a giant sudden force that just rolls you and sweeps you away?
Or more subtle where you still are swimming but it's just not working?

 

[Miyaru]

I've always been very curious about this, as I've never experienced it.

What does it feel like?

Is it like a giant sudden force that just rolls you and sweeps you away?
Or more subtle where you still are swimming but it's just not working?

Since you're in a large body of water that moves, you don't feel anything. You just see the nearby reefs shooting away.

That's below the surface.
The places where you can feel it, are the so called washing machines - usually places where two currents collide into each other, e.g. where a channel (Kandu) ends in the open sea. I have done that many times with students, so they can experience it. Just grab each other, don't let go, watch your depth and don't fight the currents (nature wins!).

Drifting away at the surface is really hard to determine. I don't see the difference between 750m and 1000m from the boat, and the water around you seems totally calm.

During every single dive, the boatcrew kept an eye on the bubbles and/or the SMBs. I never had to wait more than 5 minutes to be picked up, except for a couple of unplanned drifts where the crew still had an eye on us.

No idea what happened on that boat in Malaysia, but they didn't seem to pay any attention at all during those 2.5 hours.

 

[Centrals]

Malaysia searches for 3 Europeans lost on dive; 1 rescued

Malaysian authorities rescued a Norwegian dive instructor and were searching Thursday for three other Europeans, including two teenagers, who disappeared while diving off a southern island.

www.ctvnews.ca

Surfaced together and then got separated.

I hope every diver should carry a smb at all times and operator should insist that as well.
Smb is dirt cheap.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

I've always been very curious about this, as I've never experienced it.

What does it feel like?

Is it like a giant sudden force that just rolls you and sweeps you away?
Or more subtle where you still are swimming but it's just not working?

Currents can work in different ways, some can push you deeper in a matter of seconds.

 

[DandyDon]

Surfaced together and then got separated.

I guess it would be difficult to stay together. I carry a six foot strap with loops on both ends so I can at least keep a buddy close if needed, but I guess that's rare. Tying BC straps might work.

I hope every diver should carry a smb at all times and operator should insist that as well.
Smb is dirt cheap.

I still dive with the same one I bought for my first ocean dive trip, but I wonder how many carry those? I wear a signaling mirror hung from my neck and have a dive whistle on my reg. Then I got a PLB as I don't trust boat pilots totally.

I wonder if the instructor carried a mirror, torch, or compressed air whistle? Life is going to be tough if she's the only one to survive. I hope that they lock up that methhead boat driver forever.

It's 6:40am on the third day in Malaysia and sunup is at 7:10am. Hoping for the best.

 

[The Wolf]

Something has failed with regards to the boat skipper & dive master.

For him not to hv seen the safety buoy I am aure she must hv launched once on the surface means he was not paying attention.

Also trying to understand how/why the divemaster was not able to keep the group together.

Anyways...

 

[dmaziuk]

I guess it would be difficult to stay together. I carry a six foot strap with loops on both ends so I can at least keep a buddy close if needed, but I guess that's rare. Tying BC straps might work.

It can't be that hard to secure the other guy's octo to your shoulder d-ring. That's assuming they didn't have an smb -- mine has ~30m on the spool, enough to tie together a lot of divers.

 

[Centrals]

I could not find any reference regarding on smb.

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I carry a smb all the time however majority of divers I had met over last 25yrs did not have one. And some of them even laughed at the idea!!

 

[The Wolf]

It can't be that hard to secure the other guy's octo to your shoulder d-ring. That's assuming they didn't have an smb -- mine has ~30m on the spool, enough to tie together a lot of divers.

Them being separated seems hard for me to understand.

I am guessing they made a dash for nearby land/island and then got split up.

Not a good idea in the circumstances.

Expecting a 14 yr old boy & an 18 year old girl to fight the current is never going to work.

Best to keep together as a group, activate the safety bouy & wait for a passing fisherman or boat or ship if they could not attract their dive boat.

Just my humble opinion having dived these waters for over 30 years.

 

[The Wolf]

I've always been very curious about this, as I've never experienced it.

What does it feel like?

Is it like a giant sudden force that just rolls you and sweeps you away?
Or more subtle where you still are swimming but it's just not working?

We don't get massive swells here. 2-2.5m is rare but can happen during bad storms.

Surfacing spread apart can happen with currents but its what a dive master does next is crucial.

A lot of questions to consider how/why this happened & how they got split up.

They can't hv been far from where she was picked up by the Tug boat yesterday.