Looking for info

[keywest928]

I am not a diver. I am looking to understand a little about what can/might go wrong. A dear friend left for Thailand this morning to better coordinate a search for her son, who is missing from a scuba trip there. He was using something called a rebreather (?) He was with 8 other divers and a dive master. He got in the water, was instructed by the diver to swim to the front of the boat and wait at the mooring rope. He got in, started for the front of the boat...and hasn't been seen for three or four days.
Obviously, since we aren't there we don't know, but at that phase of the dive, it seems impossible he's gone. Any ideas?

 

[love2godeep]

I am not a diver. I am looking to understand a little about what can/might go wrong. A dear friend left for Thailand this morning to better coordinate a search for her son, who is missing from a scuba trip there. He was using something called a rebreather (?) He was with 8 other divers and a dive master. He got in the water, was instructed by the diver to swim to the front of the boat and wait at the mooring rope. He got in, started for the front of the boat...and hasn't been seen for three or four days.
Obviously, since we aren't there we don't know, but at that phase of the dive, it seems impossible he's gone. Any ideas?

I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how terrible it must be for his mother, and all of you who cared about him.

I suggest you post this message on the rebreather section of the board:

http://www.scubaboard.com/f14.html

As for things that can go wrong with scuba diving in general, you might want to look around on the Accidents and Incidents section:

http://www.scubaboard.com/f286.html

All the best,

 

[H2Andy]

He was using something called a rebreather (?) He was with 8 other divers and a dive master. He got in the water, was instructed by the diver to swim to the front of the boat and wait at the mooring rope. He got in, started for the front of the boat...and hasn't been seen for three or four days.

first i am so sorry for all friends and family. it must be so difficult to go through something like this.

regular scuba units are "open circuit," in other words, the air that is exhaled goes out into the water. a rebreather is a "closed circuit" breathing unit; in other words, the exhaled air is put back into the system and breathed again and again. the oxygen content is monitored by a computer and kept at a
healthy level by adding oxygen into the air being breathed.

i have no idea what could have happened, but the moment
you enter the water you are in an alien environment and
things can go wrong five seconds or five minutes into the dive.

one of the hardest things is trying to understand what happened and not knowing what happened,
but without any more information, talking about what happened would be sheer speculation.

again, i am sorry for your loss. i wish you all the peace you
can find under the circumstances.