Maltese court convicts dive buddy

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Or, to put it another way, of the goodness knows how many times "we've" lost a buddy, how many times did they need rescuing? Loosing buddies is a fact of life, or at least the reality.

For someone with enough experience to dive CCR, etc., one would expect that person to be self-sufficient. Certainly self-sufficient enough to ask for or demand help.

This is a tough one. Military divers trained to endure a lot more than what for fun divers experience in training. However, she was impaired. When she corked to the surface, her judgment could not longer be trusted (many including myself wouldn't trust her judgment after wanting to dive after a 20 hour work shift, military diver or not).

However, I absolutely reject the prosecution as the deceased likely died on the ascent. Let's say the accused swam into shore, discovered that the person was not the deceased and then went looking for her.

What are the chances of successful rescue at this point? Now the Maltese criminal system is likely different than that of the US where you need to convict without any doubts. Does any one of us have certainty that she would have been alive if the accused had done everything "correct"?

This incident is a horrible tragedy, made worse by the Maltese authorities ruining this person's life. Remember, we are discussing this perfectly dry. My morning coffee has kicked in and have been thinking about this for several days.

 

[SlugLife]

Are you serious, that's how people drown. If you take on the job of stand-by or buddy the safety of the diver in the water or buddy is your responsibility. If you don't wish to do that dive solo and tell your mates you won't be there to help if they get in trouble.

a) I normally solo-dive, and visibility where I dive is terrible. However, when buddy-diving, we try to stick to better visibility, which tends to e around 6ft, which frequent silty areas of 1-3ft vis. Even if I'm checking on my buddy every 10-seconds, I lose sight at least a dozen times. It's hard to not look away at least a little; afterall the mask restricts vision. (It's miserable, you might imagine why I greatly prefer solo.)

Do you have the luxury of always diving in fantastic visiblity? Do you never look away from your buddy, even for a moment?

b) Standard lost buddy procedure that I was taught was to pause, turn around several times, and then follow a safe surfacing procedure including any deco or safety stops. (In my experience, and bad vis, moving in a straight line at a very steady pace is more reliable.)

c) Buddy diving is a job? I'm pretty certain the only time I've dove with someone who took it that seriously, was when diving with instructor teaching a class. It was their job to keep all of us safe. Setting aside inattentive buddies (which is most divers), the buddy-relationship is better described as "I'm here if you need me." Not a "job" to protect them from danger, keep them safe, babysit, and monitor them every second.

 

[boulderjohn]

As I understand it, there was no lost boddy in this case. He looked away, and for some reason she had a runaway ascent to the surface. He saw her there, saw deliberate movement on her part, and decided she was not in immediate need of assistance. He could therefore complete his decompression stop before joining her at the surface.

This seems to be similar to a situation with a well known and popular ScubaBoard personality--Lynne Flaherty (TS&M). She and her husband were caught in something like a whirlpool current shift and were thrown around. When that stopped, Peter saw that she had finished that event a bit above him. She seemed fine--no help needed. He shifted his gaze to his own equipment for a minute, and when he looked back, she was gone. I don't think anyone has ever even hinted that Peter is to blame for her death.

 

[Wibble]

Are you serious, that's how people drown. If you take on the job of stand-by or buddy the safety of the diver in the water or buddy is your responsibility. If you don't wish to do that dive solo and tell your mates you won't be there to help if they get in trouble.

Exactly. Which is why "buddying" means an obligation to babysit, not go diving. Especially in a place like Malta.

 

[Celt]

a) I normally solo-dive, and visibility where I dive is terrible. However, when buddy-diving, we try to stick to better visibility, which tends to e around 6ft, which frequent silty areas of 1-3ft vis. Even if I'm checking on my buddy every 10-seconds, I lose sight at least a dozen times. It's hard to not look away at least a little; afterall the mask restricts vision. (It's miserable, you might imagine why I greatly prefer solo.)

Do you have the luxury of always diving in fantastic visiblity? Do you never look away from your buddy, even for a moment?

b) Standard lost buddy procedure that I was taught was to pause, turn around several times, and then follow a safe surfacing procedure including any deco or safety stops. (In my experience, and bad vis, moving in a straight line at a very steady pace is more reliable.)

c) Buddy diving is a job? I'm pretty certain the only time I've dove with someone who took it that seriously, was when diving with instructor teaching a class. It was their job to keep all of us safe. Setting aside inattentive buddies (which is most divers), the buddy-relationship is better described as "I'm here if you need me." Not a "job" to protect them from danger, keep them safe, babysit, and monitor them every second.

Diving conditions is no excuse to lose track of your buddy, put them on tether or shot line to the surface. People work and carry out searches all the time in zero vis without losing a diver. Bad diving practices is how divers are lost. And there's no excuse for it.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Diving conditions is no excuse to lose track of your buddy, put them on tether or shot line to the surface. People work and carry out searches all the time in zero vis without losing a diver. Bad diving practices is how divers are lost. And there's no excuse for it.

Public safety diving (searching/recovery) is a completely different animal that recreational/technical diving. Buddy separation happens. Unless you think top tier GUE divers/instructors are inadequately trained or have bad buddy diving habits.

The world is not black and white.

 

[Celt]

Exactly. Which is why "buddying" means an obligation to babysit, not go diving. Especially in a place like Malta.

Watching out for your mate is not babysitting, it's good diving practice.

 

[SlugLife]

Now the Maltese criminal system is likely different than that of the US where you need to convict without any doubts. Does any one of us have certainty that she would have been alive if the accused had done everything "correct"?

I'm not convinced the "correct" behavior would have saved her, much less seen a clear description of what that behavior was aside from the prosecutor suggesting he was supposed to skip his mandatory-deco.

This incident is a horrible tragedy, made worse by the Maltese authorities ruining this person's life.

Agreed. I'm all for divers being attentive dive-buddies, but there's a wide-gap between being an inattentive dive-buddy for a moment, and being guilty of manslaughter.

 

[BoltSnap]

People work and carry out searches all the time in zero vis without losing a diver.

These people are highly trained professional who are specifically trained in these type of searches and use more sophisticated equipment including u/w communications equipment.

Bad diving practices is how divers are lost.

This is a general emotional statement with no science behind it to prove it.

Diving conditions is no excuse to lose track of your buddy, put them on tether or shot line to the surface.

Again, this is so far out and unreasonable. Might as well stay in bed in your home.

 

[Wibble]

Diving conditions is no excuse to lose track of your buddy, put them on tether or shot line to the surface. People work and carry out searches all the time in zero vis without losing a diver. Bad diving practices is how divers are lost. And there's no excuse for it.

There's a massive difference from professional diving and a recreational dive.

If someone needs a buddy, find one. Don't rely on me. Especially for insta-buddy. I make it perfectly clear that I'm the world's worst buddy and they should find someone else.