Dive Accident – A scuba diver from Dumaguete City, was confirmed dead on November 8, 2020 at 8:50 am in Silliman University Medical Center. He experienced decompression sickness after his third dive last October 28, 2020. Lacking treatment on the island, and strict pandemic this led to a stage 4 coma and eventually, death.
Deadly Diving in Dumaguete City
The scuba diver is identified as
Jundril Suaring. He lives with his two sisters, Juvylou Suaring and Juannlith Suaring, with spearfishing and scuba diving as a livelihood. Even way before the pandemic, Jundril was already a spearfisher. It was about 3 years ago when he started working at
Harold’s Dive Center Dumaguete. According to one of his sisters, he started working for the local dive-shop in 2016 or 2017. During the pandemic, he was temporarily unemployed. Thus, making him go back to his former livelihood as a spearfisher.
Through a
Facebook post from the victim’s relative, an overview of the incident was explained.
On October 28, 2020, he and his co-spear fishers went to
Santa Monica in Barangay Banilad of Dumaguete City. He
rented scuba diving gears & diving tanks in the hopes of getting some income afterward. After their second dive, Jundril
felt dizzy and was in pain. His companions
discourage him to do the third dive. However, with no job, and a family to support, he still went for the third and last dive of the day.
According to the Facebook post, at around
30 meters deep, Jundril experienced a strong current. He panicked and pressed his inflator and went to the surface. Upon reaching the surface he lost his consciousness. His co-workers saw him and ascended carefully to help him. He was then rushed to the hospital. A few moments later, Jundril regained his consciousness and explained his point of view.
Na panic ko. Ni kusog ang solug sa lalom. Nahadlok ko maanod sa layo. Akong na pislitan. Na deretso kog saka sa taas”, he said after gaining back his conscious.
I panicked. The current got stronger at the bottom. I was afraid to be drifted away, so I pressed (the button) and I went up immediately.
In scuba diving, it is extremely dangerous to go straight up to the surface after being is depth under the sea. It is called many things such as
Decompression sickness, DCS, bubbles, or the bends. This is caused by a buildup of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream and body tissues. With great pressure and depth, the nitrogen bubbles inside the body do not have enough time to go out. This causes fatigue, shortness of breath, and bruising or also known as decompression rash.
Pandemic and Dive Accident – Bad Timing!
Jundril was able to speak very little after reaching the hospital. After that, we fell asleep and hasn’t woken up. On October 31, 2020, the doctors announced that he was in a
stage 4 coma. The only cure for decompression sickness is through a
hyperbaric decompression chamber or a pressure chamber. With manipulated pressure, the nitrogen bubbles are slowly released. There is no such machine in the city nor the province. The closest operating pressure chamber available is on the next island of Cebu.
With the virus still on the rise and no vaccine available, it was difficult to transport the patient. Jundril lives with his two sisters. Their parents are already deceased. Being financially incapable of paying high and rising medical bills, they reached out to people for help.
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