Help for Cameron Donaldson (Northernone) urgently needed

[rick00001967]

i found this interesting and more than a little alarming. is it the case that if someone is missing at sea in mexico, the family must somehow find a way to pay for a search themselves ? this sounds absurd to me. how can this be the case ?
i could see, in some cases, that if the person is found, they MAY be on the hook for some or all of the cost. but the initial search should be done by the local authorities with all the resources they have at their disposal.
sad to hear when anyone of the dive community goes missing. i hope this story has a happy ending.

 

[Bubbles McGee]

Donated. I hope they find him soon.

 

[NYCNaiad]

I would volunteer to help with the search in a heartbeat except the chances of anyone seeing anything at 50 meters is extremely small as the profile of the wall along most of Palancar is very steep and goes to well below anything a diver would be capable of. You would need a very large team of CCR divers and a lot of support for those divers.
I greatly applaud your effort but the deep dive team might not be very productive I'm afraid.

I appreciate what you're saying, but I'm not the one running the search nor making the decisions on this. I simply am sharing info & the need as stated from the person who is because I know the missing diver.

As noted above, the search team doesn't believe they will find him down there, but they wanted to rule whatever they can out as the family is spending tons of money on air & boat searches.

If you're looking for another way to get involved, the search team also just asked for:

9 volunteers on 3/19 at 5:45 am at SEDENA

(They will be walking at the lighthouse in the North. They hired some boats & are going by boat to Punta Mika’s, docking there and will be searching on land for a few hours trying to cover all the possible areas that are far and impossible to reach by truck.)

They again also asked for private pilot volunteers/planes in Cuba, Cancun, Houston, & Tampa/Miami.

And of course donations & sharing the GoFundMe page is also incredibly helpful.

If you're able to assist with the search, the person organizing it is:

Henry Schultz
Salty Endeavors Scuba Center - Scuba Schools International Dive Center #809653
https://cozumelscuba.com (312) 757-6167 from USA | (987) 111-9138 in Mexico

 

[WetInPortland]

... the chances of anyone seeing anything at 50 meters is extremely small as the profile of the wall along most of Palancar is very steep and goes to well below anything a diver would be capable of.

Dive was not on Planacar (south), it was off Puerto Abrigo, at the north end of the island. While I do not know the geography of that wall, I would respectfully suggest that it is not productive to second guess the SAR personnel on location at this time.

 

[Ron Lee]

Second guessing may just be providing other things to consider. There are likely five areas that are being covered:

1) Aerial search of open water that may now be a hundred or more miles long and unknown width.
2) Underwater search at deeper than recreational depths.
3) Underwater search from the wall edge (if it exists) to the shore line.
4) Shoreline check via boat.
5) Shoreline and inland check from Puerto Abrigo to some distance northeast of the Melia. There is a point that goes north. You may need to go past it towards Passion Island.

Consider #3. You have probably seen land based searches for a person where the searchers are relatively close together. Imagine doing the same thing underwater for several miles. It would probably take one person just to coordinate the people needed. Identify search paths. Record paths of areas covered.

To do all the searches might take several people working full time just to coordinate the activities. This is not a small undertaking.

 

[MMM]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

A reminder that this thread is to raise awareness of the fundraising need, as per the OP. If you want to comment about the dive or rescue operation, that discussion is occurring elsewhere (in the A&I forum). I provided the link in my first post. Marg, SB Senior Moderator

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[MMM]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Sadly, the search has been called off and donations are no longer being requested to support the search efforts. Many thanks to those who donated. This thread is now being closed.

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