Missing Diver in Cape Town, South Africa

[DevonDiver]

Too much hyperbole: There are exceptions to the rule,...

Yeah, and there's always an idiot who thinks they're 'special' and the rules don't apply to them.

Welcome to the A&I forum, where you'll see evidence of many of them..

no amount of argument will overcome your agency dogma.

I don't speak from a dogmatic stance. I simply quote a very highly regarded and pioneering diver who conducted decades of accident analysis and wrote an internationally lauded text of overhead environment accident prevention. I also agree with that text, and recommend it, because my 25 years of wreck diving, technical wreck diving and wreck diving instruction at every available level absolute support the wisdom of that text.

It'd take me 5 minutes with a black mask inside a wreck to change your mind. I promise you.

 

[Jack Hammer]

The message technical divers are trying to get across is that once he entered the wreck without proper training, gear, planning, and guideline he was rolling the dice. That day he got a bad roll. Why he was further in the wreck, how he got further in the wreck, his reasoning to go further or even to enter the wreck in the first place do not change that simple fact.

 

[Phil_C]

All I would say we know at the moment is that he entered the wreck and didn't come out. I have seen nothing in the various links and reports to say whether he was on a single tank or not, just that he was on open circuit. There is nothing to say what qualifications he had, or whether he was wreck trained or not, whether he knew the wreck or not and so on.

For all we know at the moment it might have been a medical issue rather than lost and OOA.

So although I agree broadly with the 'don't dive beyond your training' mantra [I deliberately say training NOT certification], we do not yet know that this is what happened here. - but I cannot see where it says that there were three CCR divers so perhaps I have missed it somewhere.

I think we need more information before we can make any assumptions, or even educated guesses about this yet - Phil.

 

[xyrandomyx]

All I would say we know at the moment is that he entered the wreck and didn't come out. I have seen nothing in the various links and reports to say whether he was on a single tank or not, just that he was on open circuit. There is nothing to say what qualifications he had, or whether he was wreck trained or not, whether he knew the wreck or not and so on.

For all we know at the moment it might have been a medical issue rather than lost and OOA.

So although I agree broadly with the 'don't dive beyond your training' mantra [I deliberately say training NOT certification], we do not yet know that this is what happened here. - but I cannot see where it says that there were three CCR divers so perhaps I have missed it somewhere.

I think we need more information before we can make any assumptions, or even educated guesses about this yet - Phil.

I'm generally eager to find out the details of accidents in case there's something I can learn. In this case, I'm even more eager to do so since it's so close to home. Unfortunately, I think it's quite unlikely that we'll find out much more, and almost certain that we won't do so any time soon. It's the usual story for diving accidents: the news media's accounts are incorrect and incomplete; the dive op involved doesn't want to talk for legal reasons; and family and friends, understandably, don't want to talk because it's painful (and possibly for legal reasons too).

 

[ajduplessis]

This is not necessarily so. It definitely is if you don't know how to navigate the wreck, but there are times when a deep knowledge of the wreck and how to navigate to the exit obviate the need for a reel. For example, in penetrating a submarine, if your entry is on the port side and you head towards the bow with the port wall on your left there is no need for a reel. In a silt out you simply put the port side on your right and head back out. In the tight quarters of a submarine a reel can present an entanglement hazard and navigation is not difficult.

Otherwise i agree with the post. redundant systems are a must in overhead environments.

Wreck penetration and cave diving for all purposes is the same thing!! You require guideline, redundant equipment, training and so forth.

I have a deep knowledge as many other cavers here of our local cave sites, yet I have never seen anyone penetrate any of these systems without guideline!!! Any overhead penetration diving without guideline is absolutely MADNESS and one of the reasons for this thread!!

Correctly positioned guideline can not present an entanglement hazard!!! It is responses like yours that other divers read and think "It's OK to dive without guideline if you know what you do"... and in a couple of months we will see another incident like this.

Please stop this BS ego-driven, IQ deprived stupidity.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

Someone asked about silt in Cape Town a few posts ago.

Here is a video that I shot inside the Princess Elizabeth Wreck which lies mere meters away from the Rockeater. You will see how clear the water is. At about 0:30 I clip my GoPro off to free up my hand for some line work. At about 0:40 the GoPro drags in the silt. Look how quickly visibility is lost and I am reliant on the line for an exit direction.

Silt - Cape Town - YouTube

Those pillars you see are tight enough that I can brush one either side with my shoulders in places. They are also not in neat little rows and are a little random in placement. Line got me out of there. Relying on memory and progressive penetration would have been a far inferior (and potentially deadly) option.

 

[Phil_C]

Actually quite an informative video clip and great to illustrate the point. I think if something like this was shown to all OW divers during their course, along with a few other examples of things that can go wrong, then it would help to re-enforce why people should not go beyond their training, and why it is necessary to get further training in order to safely take part in some of these more 'advanced' diving activities.

I can see that it might help sell courses such as wreck diver and so on for some people, but then it might also dispel the "diving is safe for everyone" line that some agencies seem to like these days so not be popular with agencies.

Anyone fancy starting a 'library of video examples for something like this? - Phil

 

[WendyCayman]

The Dive Operator released this statement:

On 4 January 2014 a fellow diver, James Magee, passed away while diving the 70’s artificial reef created by the scuttling of the MV Rockeater in Smitswinkel Bay, just south of Simonstown. This event has further brought into stark focus the risks inherent in wreck diving. The depth that the incident occurred at was between 30 – 33 meters and James was diving on a 32% Nitrox mix. James was leading the way for two other open circuit divers when he became separated from his dive group. He subsequently silted up the engine room and in what seems to have been an effort to exit the silted engine room, he penetrated deeper into the wreck via a tunnel / walkway into the prop shaft area. James finally succumbed to an inescapable entanglement in the stern inspection hold where he drowned. The other members of the dive group followed “missing diver protocol” and surfaced. Once they had surfaced they notified the skipper who raised the alarm. A group of rebreather divers subsequently surfaced and the decision was made for 3 of these divers to descend back to the wreck and an extended search of the wreck commenced. The three divers returned to the surface over an hour later after unsuccessfully recovering James. Upon surfacing the boat completed an extended surface search for James to rule out an unseen surfacing. While the three rebreather divers had followed conservative decompression practice the Navy medical officer assigned to the incident required that the rebreather divers submit to DCI assessments. The DCI assessments supported the conservative decompression practice implemented and all three divers were cleared of any DCI symptoms. En route to the Naval Medical Centre in Simonstown the scene was handed over to the NSRI. The NSRI, with the assistance of helicopter support, completed a surface grid search which included the drift directions and the nearby shoreline. Subsequently, two of the rebreather divers and one of James’s dive group then proceeded to assist the Navy and police divers in their recovery efforts. These recovery efforts were unsuccessful and the search effort was called off later on Saturday afternoon, to recommence on Sunday morning. Sunday morning provided an opportunity for two of Dive Action’s most experienced rebreather divers to mark James’s last known position on the wreck. They did this with the assistance of the other two members of James’s dive group. After escorting these members to the shot line a further search was conducted. This search was ultimately unsuccessful in recovering James. Upon surfacing from this final dive the SAPS Diver Unit engaged the position mark on the wreck and were ultimately successful in recovering James. We wish to emphasise here that the SAPS diver unit moved into a technically challenging section of the wreck and without this exceptional commitment James’ body would not have been recovered. Throughout this incident the NSRI and SAPS Diver Unit provided exceptional support and operational engagement. We, as Dive Action and the involved divers, would like to extend our sincere thanks for the exemplary commitment demonstrated by both these organisations. To the family, friends and fellow divers we extend our deepest condolences. James epitomised the spirit of the recreational diver. His enthusiasm, constant smile and commitment to the sport will be greatly missed. Please join us in remembering a great proponent of our beloved sport and can confirm that we are organising a memorial dive and the details of this will follow.

 

[xyrandomyx]

Thanks for sharing that info.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

The Dive Operator released this statement:

James was leading the way for two other open circuit divers when he became separated from his dive group. He subsequently silted up the engine room and in what seems to have been an effort to exit the silted engine room, he penetrated deeper into the wreck via a tunnel / walkway into the prop shaft area. James finally succumbed to an inescapable entanglement in the stern inspection hold where he drowned. The other members of the dive group followed “missing diver protocol” and surfaced.

Firstly, thanks for sharing the quote.

It seems clear that the upfront intention was to penetrate the wreck.
Does anyone know what equipment they had, whether they ran lines and what the "missing diver protocol" was? Training levels would also be interesting.

Respect to the others involved, it really sounds like they did everything possible.