Missing diver found entangled - Miri, Malaysia

[infieldg]

How horrible would it be if your second stage snagged a net and you couldn't orient it to breath in the minute or so that you had to get it back

 

[Bob DBF]

Yea but a backplate with no BCD and no octo second stage is far from recreational.

That's how I learned back in '62, and dove for around a decade after. Although there have been many improvements made since then, I could understand a diver in a third world country on a tight budget using only the minimum necessary gear trying to make a living.

Whether he had more gear may, or may not, have made a difference.


Bob

 

[Searcaigh]

That's how I learned back in '62,

Likewise Bob when I learned in the 80s, I recall when BSAC poo poo'd octos as you had to learn buddy breathing (not that there's anything wrong with that) and no BC but a device called an ABLJ, which I recall was for surface use only.

 

[Edward3c]

Likewise Bob when I learned in the 80s, I recall when BSAC poo poo'd octos as you had to learn buddy breathing (not that there's anything wrong with that) and no BC but a device called an ABLJ, which I recall was for surface use only.

You must have been in one of the dinosaur branches. Mine encouraged the adoption of an octo reg, but we still had to teach BB until enough divers had two regs.

An ABLJ is used for buoyancy control just like a stab-jacket or wing. I still, rarely now, see people diving with them. Fully inflated they will ensure the face is out of the water so an unconscious person could still breathe. Their major downside was they weren’t as comfortable as a stab-jacket or wing.

 

[Divectionist]

back in good ole '23 we didn't even have masks and were discouraged from using fins because the navy had a study out that said they could lure sharks

 

[Mike1967]

back in good ole '23

 

[Searcaigh]

back in good ole '23 we didn't even have masks and were discouraged from using fins because the navy had a study out that said they could lure sharks

Is that why they used lead boots

 

[Dan]

Where was his buddy?

 

[bomberkenny]

On that day of the incident, we were actually in Miri Marina Bay planning to have a dive. The weather wasn't so good the day before, with strong wind and heavy rains. So the dive centers did cancelled our dives for safety purposes. We were of course sad because a friend had to drive 3 hours to reach Miri while I had to drive 1 hour from Brunei Darussalam and we had to stay a night before the dive. In the end we went home after lunch. At night, we learnt that a diver went diving and drowned. So from this incident, we were thankful that the dive center had cancelled our dives for our safety and we learnt to trust the judgement of the dive centers.
I did some readings on the case and we learnt that the person was probably laying fishing nets with his brother and an acquaintance around 4pm on that day and he was the only person in the water while his brother and the friend was waiting for him on the boat. A distress call was sent to the authorities when the diver did not surface after some time. Although we had not heard about the investigation, we had deduced that he might be stuck on the net that he laid and he had a panic or heart condition that render him immobile.

 

[Searcaigh]

@bomberkenny

Thanks for that update, which confirms my suspicion that there was a commercial aspect to it.

Laying nets using SCUBA is a new one for me, but I'm not surprised by anything these days in SE Asia.