Missing divers search procedures

[VictorVideo]

Dear colleagues,

As you know at the beginning of January four divers were lost at the Elfinstone reef at Red Sea, Egypt. Those were two Russians, one citizen of the Netherlands and one Egyptian. They were carried by a current. This incident isn’t first one in Egypt, such incidents happen with sad regularity.

In happened case all activities for search allow to make next conclusions :

1. There is no any marine search or rescue aviation on the Egyptian red sea coast. Any aircraft which can take off is military ones, its have not any equipments and crews which are trained for search operations. Moreover this aircrafts can be taken off in much hours or even days.

2. All searches are executed by vessels and zodiacs from local dive-centers or located at this time in this site. This search method is only visually. There is no any instrumental technology (f.e. GPS, radio signal) for search by the vessels or zodiacs. Despite the fact that all search-participants make everything what they can - this searches are executed chaotically and ineffectively. Moreover they can't search in dark time and their usual practice is to declare that lost divers are dead when it got dark.

3. More important time for search is first several hours after disappearance because of changeable current and reduced strength and dehydration for the lost divers.

So I wrote the rules for skippers and zodiacmen which allows them to search at most effectiveness with minimal expenses of time, fuel and straights. If they search activity is upon this rules the lost divers will be found in 2-3 hours or less. Moreover knowledge of the fact that search will make in such order permittes fos missing divers to be sure and to avoid mistakes.

I am at you to print the rules every time when you're going to Egypt for diving. Please, hand the rules to you receiving dive-center manager, to vessel skippers and to zodiacmen. If anybody misunderstands in English please explain him. I'll try to prepare additional variant in Arabic language in short time .

Thank you,

VictorVideo
Moscow, Russia

P.S. That was preamble for document which I’m going to attach below. I need your help for prior editing for it by E-mail. The document in English is ready. After this editing I’ll place it in this topic.

 

[Divingdon]

While there may be no organised search and rescue in the South Red Sea, in the Sharm area we are blessed with a search and rescue unit based at Travco Jetty in Sharm El Sheikh. They have super fast speedboats which can make a 1 hour journey by dive boat in an amazing 6 minutes!!! Which means that if reported quickly they can be on scene to search within the hour or have someone back on land to the chamber, also located by Travco Jetty within an hour.

VictorVideo I think that writing a document about how to search for missing divers is an admirable endeavour, although I would excercise caution using it. The boat captains I work with have been doing there job for years and know the waters far better than I do. In most cases they can tell me which direction and how strong an underwater current is running. If I was to give them a rule book to follow and made them follow it, it may be to the detriment of the missing divers. With the captains knowledge and experience his is much more likely to have an idea about which direction missing divers may have drifted.

 

[ReefGuy]

Good luck with this! This seems like a really good idea.

This is how I would write it. The areas surrounded with (?), I don't understand what you are trying to say:

Dear colleagues,

As you know at the beginning of January four divers were lost at the Elfinstone reef at Red Sea, Egypt. Two of these were Russians, one Netherlander and one Egyptian. They were carried by a current. This incident isn’t the first one in Egypt, such incidents happen with sad regularity.

(?)In happened case all activities for search allow to make the following conclusions(?) :

1. There is no any marine search or rescue aviation on the Egyptian red sea coast. Any aircraft which can take off is military, but does not have not any equipment or crew trained for search operations. (?)Moreover these aircraft can be taken off in much hours or even days(?).

2. All searches are executed by vessels and zodiacs, either from local dive-centers or already located at the site. This search method is visual only. There is not any instrumental technology (i.e. GPS, radio signal) available for use by the searching parties. Despite the facts that all search-participants make use of everything they can - these searches are chaotic and ineffectively executed. Moreover they can't search in darkness and their usual practice is to declare that lost divers are dead when it gets dark.

3. The most important time for search is first several hours after disappearance because of changeable current and reduced strength and dehydration of the lost divers.

I wrote rules for skippers and zodiac men which allows them to search most effectively with minimal expenses of time, fuel and (?)straights(?). If their search activity is based upon these rules, the lost divers will be found in 2-3 hours or less. Moreover, knowledge of the fact that the search will be made in such order that permits for missing divers to be sure and to avoid mistakes.

I am asking you to print the rules every time when you're going to Egypt for diving. Please, hand the rules to your dive-center manager, to vessel skippers and to zodiac men. If anybody misunderstands in English please explain to him. I'll try to prepare additional variant in Arabic language in short time.

Thank you,

VictorVideo
Moscow, Russia

 

[VictorVideo]

Divingdon and ReefGuy,
Please check your private folders.

I understand that captain's experience can cause gibes from they. But IMHO there is no news for them in the document. Only right order of search activities without loss of time. However cases of disapearance of divers happens in Red Sea and not only.
Moreover there are zodiac men and other light boat drivers who carry divers alone to dive site and then simply lose their head and make hysteric in situation when anybody desappear because of stress - and lose of time too.

There is a phrase in Russian language : "to drip on brain" (seems english analog is "to get on back" (?)). I mean that initiative to make our dives more safe shall be in diver's hands too.

 

[Jai Bar]

While there may be no organised search and rescue in the South Red Sea, in the Sharm area we are blessed with a search and rescue unit based at Travco Jetty in Sharm El Sheikh. They have super fast speedboats which can make a 1 hour journey by dive boat in an amazing 6 minutes!!! Which means that if reported quickly they can be on scene to search within the hour or have someone back on land to the chamber, also located by Travco Jetty within an hour.

I think you are confusing "Evacuation" with "Search and Rescue". They are not necessarily the same. There is a good, professional evacuation team in Sharm. It does not imply that there are good S&R procedures- coordination between vessels/airplanes, assignment of search areas, getting the whole picture in field HQ, Night searching (non existent today, for example) etc. etc.

VictorVideo I think that writing a document about how to search for missing divers is an admirable endeavour, although I would excercise caution using it. The boat captains I work with have been doing there job for years and know the waters far better than I do. In most cases they can tell me which direction and how strong an underwater current is running. If I was to give them a rule book to follow and made them follow it, it may be to the detriment of the missing divers. With the captains knowledge and experience his is much more likely to have an idea about which direction missing divers may have drifted.

Apparently, not all captains have good knowledge. It is not to offend the local captains- I have been diving in the area since the late 80s, and met all sort of captains, zodiac drivers, dive guides etc. Some are among the best seaman, others don't know what a current is even under their nose.

In the last case, the zodiac driver apparently failed, there wasn't any comunication device to ask for assitance, there was a waste of time without deciding what to do, he kept looking for the divers in the wrong place etc. etc. Four people dissapeared, although according to the sole survivor they could be easily saved...

But, you are missing the most important thing- even the best captain does not have all the data during a big area S&R operation. There must be a "manager" who has all the picture, knows where to send searchers, how to distribute resources, information, coordinate all the efforts etc. etc.

Good captainship is good for the "micro" picture, and of course it is good that all captains have good knowledge of the reefs, currents etc but someone must manage them to correct locations, avoiding dozens of good-captained ships in one small spot, leaving vast areas unsearched (as it happened in the last case...), making sure search is continued at night, notifying approaching and nearby vessels, requesting assistance from the air (and sending them to the right place) etc.

 

[VictorVideo]

In the last case, the zodiac driver apparently failed, there wasn't any comunication device to ask for assitance, there was a waste of time without deciding what to do, he kept looking for the divers in the wrong place etc. etc. Four people dissapeared, although according to the sole survivor they could be easily saved...

Yes, this is just "main stream" of my document. I tried to insert to it just a little of psychology, just a little of kinematics, just a little of common sense and the rest is my intuition.
Moreover I mean search participants can use only usial equipment like we always use : compass, watch or dive-computer as watch and hand torch/light (at night). Mobile phones (or "walky-talky" radio) may be desirable but not mandatory.

Now forum's guys are kindly helping me to edit it. Then I put it in.

 

[VictorVideo]

I put this rules text below. Many thanks for ReefGuy (Florida), Divingdon (Sharm-el-Shaih), Svetlana Touloub (Belgium), Natasha Ivanova (Russia) for help and editing of the rules.

MISSING DIVERS SEARCH PROCEDURES

Dive vessels mandatory equipment for missing divers search

• Compass.to
• Watch with second point or dive-computer in hours-minutes-second mode.
• 2 flexible ropes 6-8 mm thick and 2 m long, with 1 kg weight on one end.
• Mobile phone with 100% battery charged, paid at least 120 min speaking time for local calls. VHF radio
• Emergency numbers and contact numbers of dive-center managers must be stored in the address book of a mobile phone or written down.

Note : In areas where mobile phones don’t work use VHF hand / stationary radio. Anyway both mobile phone and VHF radio are desirable.

• 2 empty dive cylinders / scuba tanks. Otherwise use the regular dive cylinders with pressure released.
• 2 pencils and slate ( the motor hood or other non-erasable place can be also used for taking notes)
• Torch/light.

Procedures for skipper/zodiac man delivered the divers to a site (further - searcher # 1)

• Write down last diver drop time.
• If within 60 minutes any diver isn’t appeared –

a) ascertain current direction by after-dive divers questioning or by deflection of rope with weight,
b) do local search in the site including reef checkout beginning from its down-current tip.

• Declare alert in 90 minutes. Call a dive-center manager for at least one search vessel (zodiac or boat). If there are other vessels on this diving site, ask them for a help, write down their phone numbers and tell them your phone number / use VHF radio. Prepare 2 tanks for dropping : make them free of any equipment, check that pressure is released, tie the rope with weight to everyone tank valve.
• Go down from reef down-current tip at 50 meters and drop both tanks.
• Write down this drop time (time A).
• Be near the drift tanks. Don’t touch and affect them. Decrease vessel windage if possible.
• Settle down. Wait phone or verbal directions. Call only if it’s absolutely necessary. Any your vessel/zodiac displacements ARE PROHIBITED ! BE POSITIONED NEAR TANKS !

Note : If the tanks are moved away from each other it’s permitted to tow any tank to a second one.

ATTENTION ! THE TANKS VISUAL LOSS IS PROHIBITED !

Procedures for skippers/zodiac men of other search vessels :

• Check compass and watch. Take fresh water / fuel stocks and torches/lights.
• Arrive at the site as soon as possible or stay at the site (for those ones who are already located at the site).
• Talk to searcher #1 by phone / VHF radio, calm him down, report about search vessels quantity and their skipper/zodiac man phone numbers. Ask exact tanks drop time (time A) and write it down.
• Ascertain current direction along the diving site.
• Visually spot the searcher #1.
• NOT LESS than in 30 minutes after time A go down from reef down-current tip at 50 meters, measure exact compass course to searcher # 1 (it is search direction course). If it’s possible ask other searchers check this course (including way back from searcher # 1 to this point by phone). Write down this course.
• Write down exact current time (hours-min-sec) and start moving with search direction course to searcher # 1 with maximum safety speed mode.
• When the searcher # 1 is reached write down exact time (hours-min-sec). Calculate time B as difference between first and final time of the motion from site to searcher # 1.
• Start careful observation of sea surface.
• Continue moving in the same speed mode heading search direction course during time C (see time C in table 1). Write time C down.

Table 1.

First time of movement from diving site***** Motion time C with the search direction course from searcher # 1

30 min later than time ********************* four times B
60 min later than time ********************* two times B
90 min later than time ********************* 1 and 1/3 of time B
120 min later than time ******************** one time B
180 min later than time ********************4/5 of time B
210 min later than time A and later**********3/4 of time B

• When time C is over change the course by 90 degrees to sun side, move for half a minute, then set a return search direction course. Write down the course and first time of this passage.
• When time close to time C is over change the course by 90 degrees to side of searcher # 1 and move by him for one minute. After that again set to search direction course. Write down its first time.
• Execute passages with search direction course and return search direction course increasing cross motion times for half a minute every time. Write down first times of every direct or return passages.
• In case if anything is discovered on sea surface one of vessels shall stop and stay at a current place while other ones check out the find. Its skipper/zodiac man shall write down the stop time. Skippers and zodiac men shall preliminary arrange about stopped person. If the find is erroneous deviated vessels shall return to their place and continue passage during remainder time.

Extra requirements for dark time search :

• To avoid premature torch discharge searcher # 1 shall turn it on only when return search direction passage is executed when searching skipper/zodiac man called (after about 2/3 of return passage time). He shall light to their side.
• Vessels lighting shall be minimum for boat or absent for zodiac. Before course changes skipper of vessel-leader shall give notice for other participants by phone and by circular waving with torch.
• Attention shall be direct on possible light diver markers : white flash lights, torch lights, different lightings.

Procedures for searcher when missing diver are found :

• Get out everyone from water, render essential assistance.
• Notify other searchers. Searcher # 1 shall get tanks from water and approach to this place.
• Be sure that ALL divers are found. If it necessary drop the tanks again in this place and continue the search be based on this new point.
• If ALL divers are found – go back home..

Procedures for searchers when search remain unsuccessful :

• After not less than 12 passages with search direction course and 12 passages with return search direction course are executed unsuccessfully – stop the search and go back home.
• Searcher # 1 shall LEAVE the tanks drifting in water and go back home too.
• Copy all entries to a paper and deliver the paper to police or dive-center manager.

 

[Jai Bar]

Nice work. I think, it can help to give a short description (2-3 sentences) of the searching method and how it works- even better if it was illustrated. Perhaps doing an A4 slate (or laminated paper) that can be distributed to boats/dive clubs? On one side there is a drawing of the search pattern (with all passages) including blank spaces to fill with times (A, B and C), phone numbers etc. etc.

The other side of sheet can include the descriptions, explanations, tables, required gear and all the text that you've written.

Anyway, I found the text a bit cumbersome and hard to follow (sounds like it was generated with an automatic translator?) so a drawing may simplify it.

 

[Jai Bar]

......

 

[VictorVideo]

It could be fine. Though I'm not great painter I'll try to illustrate the text.
Moreover such waterproof variant may be glued to zodiac's tube near its driver. Also such rules shall be attached in captain's cabin.