Haigh Quarry Accident on Oct 2, 2010

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

Happy to see the tread moved. I will also say that I have enjoyed pleasure and more advanced training dives in visibility that is less than 5ft. Dare I say it, I even enjoy low vis dives as they require a little more concentration and team work. I think a few of these under your belt contributes to being a better diver. I would happily come dive with you in the Midwest and will feel safe doing it.

As with most posts under the accident forum, we have precious little information.
1. Visibility was poor.
2. The diver lost his buddy / group.
3. There was air in the tank.

Based on the fact that there was air still in the tank, I am at this stage guessing a medical problem or anxiety from low vis (and possibly unfamiliar conditions) combined with buddy separation would have played a part. Hence the question, how do we know when we are good enough to take on low vis diving? For my part, I probably did it too soon and should have waited. (Again logistically, low vis was all I could find where I was living at the time).

 

[ben_wilson3301]

The vis at the Quarry is always low when silt is kicked up however on that morning the vis in OW was closer to 15. I just wish I knew if this was a student or a certified diver and why it took sooooo long to find and recover him. When I dive I know where my buddy is every second and if I dont I know where they were two seconds ago. In poor vis I pay even better attention. My buddy and I dove today and were both separated from the group do to NO vis, but we had each other. So we looked for a few moments until my buddy started getting nervous so I thumbed the dive for her. It all comes down to looking out for each other.

 

[awakefie]

My sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and fellow divers.

 

[dwhthediver]

He was a 16 year old boyscout, had dove Haigh a couple of other times this summer, and when found there was still 900psi in the tank. One reason that it took so long to find him, when we questioned his group prior to splashing, they pointed to an area about 200' from where he was found. we and the other search team were directed to and dropped on an area where bubbles were spotted. He was found by the other search team consisting of an instructor and a person who literally just finished rescue class.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

Just in: Buffalo Grove teen dies while scuba diving in Kankakee - The Daily Journal

Just in: Buffalo Grove teen dies while scuba diving in Kankakee
10/04/2010, 7:51 am
Comment on this story


Emily Zulz
ezulz@daily-journal.com
815-929-5408

A 16-year-old Boy Scout from Buffalo Grove died Saturday afternoon while scuba diving at Haigh Quarry.

Kankakee County Coroner Bob Gessner said the cause of death of Kenneth G. Uhl, of Buffalo Grove, is still under investigation. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

"He had no history other than a little anxiety," Gessner said. "We should know some type of answer after the autopsy."

Uhl, who had completed training for certification as a scuba diver in August, was on his third dive on Saturday when he didn't return to the surface with his diving group, Gessner said. Bourbonnais Fire Department responded around 1:15 p.m. and transported Uhl to Provena St. Mary's emergency room, where he was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. ... Learn more about this story by subscribing to The Daily Journal's print edition or E-edition.

 

[Deep-6]

I was one of the divers that got him out of his gear and pulled him out onto the dock and did CPR. Daily Journal today says he didnt make it. Which was the gut feeling I had while it was going down. Very difficult way for us to start our day.

 

[vondo]

Article with name in the local paper:

Just in: Buffalo Grove teen dies while scuba diving in Kankakee - The Daily Journal

 

[ScubaSteve]

Very sad indeed. Thoughts and prayers to those involved. When the new thread is started on the acceptable vis conditions for training please post the link as I think it will be a popular discussion topic.

 

[santafejoe]

I was there on Saturday helping with a AOW class. We had just finished our second dive and had surfaced from the Dump Truck when we saw what was going on up on shore .By the time we got to shore the paramedics had just left ,we were told by other divers what had happened. My Condolences to the family and friends.

 

[Byte Me]

Very sad indeed. Thoughts and prayers to those involved. When the new thread is started on the acceptable vis conditions for training please post the link as I think it will be a popular discussion topic.

Agree completely that would be a great topic - but was this a training dive? Paper said he was certified and on his 3rd dive of the day. The young man that died at Mermet, also this weekend, was apparently doing OW cert dives. In either case, a good topic. I do hope we can find out more about both of these tragedies to fill in the blanks and hopefully avoid things like this in the future.