Lost Diver off New Jersey

[Waterlover]

Does anyone know if they found the diver lost from the vessel Miss Atlantic City today? I heard the Coast Guard radio transmissions reporting an overdue diver 23 miles east of Beach Haven inlet.
Update: He was found and revival attempts failed. He was from sudurban Philly. no other info at this time. My condolenses to the family.

 

[Jersey]

I heard the report on the way to work and pulled this off the Press of AC website Monday morn:


BEACH HAVEN - A recreational diver drowned Sunday afternoon about 23 miles off the coast of Beach Haven, officials said.

The diver was diving off the Miss Atlantic City with a club from suburban Philadelphia, but additional information was being withheld pending family notification, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeff Valentine said.

An Atlantic City-based Coast Guard Search and Rescue group responded after receiving a report that a diver had gone under and not come up, Valentine said.

The group searched by boat and helicopter for about two hours until the diver surfaced, he said.

Rescue workers pulled the diver from the water and administered CPR, but this resulted in no pulse or heart rhythm and the diver was pronounced dead at about 3:30 p.m., he said.


Friends were also out Sunday and reported fair skies and good conditions.
Condolences to the family.

 

[Rooster1]

Condolences to family and friends

 

[Dee]

nt

 

[Curly]

Further details on the diver who died over the weekend? I've seen nothing in the Philadelphia area papers, and only the above-posted account in the Atlantic City paper.

 

[tfeeney27]

The diver was a college professor from Broomall, Pa., named William Bistline. He was diving with a club from Media, Pa. Cause of death was drowning, according to the Atlanic County medical examiner. The ME's invetigators are trying to figure out what caused it.

 

[SeaHunt]

I hate to say it or think it but if he was diving with a buddy or an organized club the litigation lawyers are probably circling like sharks.

Any further info on how he drowned? Was it an out of air situation?

 

[tfeeney27]

The president of the dive club (North East Divers Assoc) said he and Bistline were making a second dive because Bistline wanted to get some scallops. Here's what the president told the Asbury Park Press:

"I went in first, followed the line down and tied the anchor line in the sand. There were plenty of scallos near there, and I started to fill a bag for him."

He said he thought Bisteline had started to follow him down but then aborted the dive and returned to the surface.

"I went back up and they told me there might be a diver in trouble. I thold them to call 9-1-1 and alert the Coast Guard. They said his suit overinflated and he shot back up to the surface, then deflated and he went under. We never saw him again."

 

[scubababe]

I wonder how long the buddy was down there assuming that the buddy had abortted the dive. I wonder what would have happened if he had have stuck to 'wait one minute then surface to meet with buddy'? I wonder if some one on board had have gone after the diver after he surfaced and redescended? Didn't we all learn about that in our Rescue diver courses?

 

[radagalf]

It is sad that this man died doing something he probably enjoyed and loved, and my condolescences go out to his family and friends.

This brings me to another point though, that is seldom brought up until tragedy strikes <sigh>. Often, when an injury related to divng occurs, it is because of multiple mistakes:

1) upon descent they should have kept each other within visual range at all times

2) they should have kept to their dive plan: start as a buddy team, end as a buddy team

3)never assume something, always check yourself to make sure

4) surfacing after 1 minute to find your buddy

I know it isn't the greatest thing to bring this all up so close to a recent tragedy, but we must all remember that whichever organization we have been trained by, trains us to avoid these situations. These mistakes have been made before, and it would be nice to avoid them in the future as the results of not doing so can be disastrous.