Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

[Beach Bum k10]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
IMO

My prediction is that it will get worse before it gets better. All the market pressures are to provide faster cheaper training not better.

I agree. I hope the industry will realize a life is more important than making another $.

 

[Gilligan]

There is a lot of blame going on in these posts. We are solely responsible for our choices in life. What was this persons skill level? Did they make the decision to go way beyond their limits? I personally feel this reef hook practice is environmentally destructive and says a lot about the boat operator, not to mention the safety aspects involved in it if one is not trained to some degree.:shades:

 

[Gilligan]

I found this article about the incident at:
http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i030403a/i030403a.html

Diver drowns on Peter Hughes Star Dancer "reef hook" drift dive in Palau
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by Ivan Valensky

KOROR, Palau (April 3, 2003) - Another Peter Hughes customer died after encountering problems on a "reef hook" drift dive at Peleliu Cut in Palau.

The young female victim was one of 17 mostly novice divers Hughes dropped into ripping currents and two-meter swells at Peleliu Cut on the first dive of their second day aboard Star Dancer.

Although conditions were challenging even for expert divers, participants in the dive were not required to have training nor any experience in "reef hook" diving and only one divemaster was assigned to the group.

According to divers who witnessed the accident, the victim was able to hook into the reef but lost one of her fins and mask in the strong current. She ditched her weight belt and attempted an emergency ascent, but was not strong enough to free the hook from the reef or remove her BC (to which the reef hook was attached) in the strong current.

By the time the divemaster got to her and cut her free, she had lost consciousness. After getting the victim to the surface and into the tender, the divemaster immediately initiated CPR.

With expert assistance from a medical professional who happened to be diving with the group, and emergency medical equipment provided by another liveaboard dive boat, the victim was revived over an hour after she was found unconscious.

The medical professional, boat crew and the victim's husband rushed her back to Koror aboard the Star Dancer tender and she was airlifted to Guam where she died three days later.

Hughes and other dive operators started "reef hook" diving in Palau despite strong opposition from many conservationists and dive safety experts.

Conservationists oppose "reef hook" diving due to coral damage caused by thousands of divers hooking into reefs at Pelelieu and other popular drift diving areas.

Dive safety experts oppose "reef hook" diving because it significantly increases risks to divers who have no training nor experience in the use of such specialized equipment.

Peter Hughes Diving declined to comment about the accident.

 

[gkwaldee]

There were divers in the water with 12!!!!!! dives. So lets go and, not only drift but, hook to a reef in a strong current. Why you ask? Because we can.............

"My car has an airbag, lets do 45 or so and run headfirst into a concrete wall." To quote a song.........."heres your sign"

Divers "can" do alot of things, that doesnt mean its smart. There are dives here on Guam that cant be done without certain certifications, and then you gotta back that up with sheer numbers of dives. And I dont know of any dive on Guam that remotely sounds that taxing.


Peter whoever should be shut down.
The hubby will spend the rest of his life feeling like crap.


My spin, sheer stupidity on ALL levels.

Bummer all the way around

tiny bubbles

 

[perpet1]

GearHead once bubbled...
One thing I haven't seen anybody make a point of was the size of the seas out there: Six foot swells are SIGNIFICANT! DD's friend even mentioned that she had to use her reg on the surface while she waited for the tender. Considering only that factor, it sounds like the husband may very well have a case.

Also, I haven't been on a liveaboard, but this situation and others give me the impression that there is a ton of pressure on the dive operators to get these people to their dive sites NO MATTER WHAT for 5+ dives a day. If indeed there's that kind of pressure from the divers, and the boat captain/decision-maker is caving in despite their better judgment, then the operation should be found at fault.

Now I don't know if that logic applies in this case, but having done some Roatan boat dives in 3 and 4 foot swells, I don't think they should have been in the water with 6 footers. Those kinds of conditions are precisely when the chance of an accident goes through the roof.

This is a hard statement to make without really knowing the conditions. I lived on a tropical island and sometimes you have 6 foot seas that are not all that bad and then sometimes you have some 4 foot seas that are backed by wind and are extreme hazards.

Yes, dive operators are under extreme pressure to get the people in the water but, in reality, it is the people placing the pressure on the operators.....

In this case there is no way to know who was responsible given the level of detail in this thread.


my $.03 (inflation)
Pete

 

[scubatwinned]

This is the first time I've ever heard of "reef hooking" like a lot of others here, and especially thinking about your example, Eric, it sounds dangerous as he**. (can I say "dangerous"?)

The more I think about the blame, though, jepuskar's got a point. Legally, PHD is probably screwed, mostly because of the conditions. But ultimately, the diver herself, and her husband are the ones that chose to go diving knowing there was a strong current, 6 foot seas, and a technique she probably wasn't trained for.

Who wants to bet that the husband "encouraged" her to do this dive because of the challenge, or because of the sharks or whatever?And who wants to bet that had he been well trained and/or skilled enough, he could have been able to stay close to, and help his buddy. He's going to sue Peter Hughes, and he will probably get a big settlement, but I doubt it will do much to help his own guilty conscience.

I believe that not the equipment but the divers make it a stupid and dangerous practice. PEOPLE HAVE TO FACE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO DO THE DIVES. Just because you have the money to go does not make it divable. If they only had 17 dives they should not have been diving in Palau at all!!! I found the operators in Palau all to be at fault for taking inexperienced divers to sites where they should not have been. Folks from Japan( in the 30 days I was there) I believe 9 or more died. There are small caves that go back no more than 12 meters, 3-4 meters high with plagues all around the entrance put there by the dive clubs of the divers who have died in the cave!!!??!?!
Having done the dive that we are taking about the surface can be fairly calm in the deeper water and get crazy in the shallow water on the plateau. One goes to that spot because of the current so the hubby,wife and the operator were all well aware of the conditions. It's not called The Peleliu Express for nothing!!! The tides and the fact that the Philippine Sea meets the Pacific here create the currents. I would not want to lay blame but I would say the hubby must know the comfort level of the wife and to let her get in the water... Maybe he was in over his head as much as her. To loose ones partner on this dive would take a blink of an eye if one tried to hook in when the other did not. When I dove it (with Sams) in a small dive boat we were able to move over the shallow area to have a look and see the exit conditions so we could make a call on the dive.

 

[scubatwinned]

.

Dive safety experts oppose "reef hook" diving because it significantly increases risks to divers who have no training nor experience in the use of such specialized equipment.

I could say that about anything in the world where one uses pretty much anything other than ones hands...

 

[Firefyter]

psssst....check the dates on this thread.....

 

[OWSI176288]

My girlfriend (and dive partner) have a very good understanding that we never dive solo. Thus, we’re no more then an arms length apart at all times. So we never have, and never will use reef hooks. Because once you set your reef hooks, you and your dive partner/dive buddy are basically diving solo. It is highly unlikely that your dive partner, or anyone else for that matter, would be close enough or could get to you in time in the event of an OOA or other emergency.

No shame in drift diving below a SMB.

 

[scubatwinned]

psssst....check the dates on this thread.....

Oh well... if it's still around might as well get my 2 cents in