NOAA Diver dies off Dry Tortugas

[ERIC.K]

Our boat, CGC MOHAWK (Key West) were the ones that were tasked with picking up all of his gear from the boat he was using... unfortunately while trying to pick it up out of the water, the valve stem snapped off the tank and his raft sank. all of the gear was lost.... definately a very sad day

THE VALVE STEM BROKE OFF? What kinda force must be applied to break that off? I'm a diver of 5 years, are we talking about the same valve stem the 1st stage screws down onto? I pick up tanks routinely from the valve stem....then his raft sank? wow what a tragic day.

 

[mike_s]

Here is the accident statement from the NOAA crew, March 17, 2008

A question about the report, for anyone here who might know...


the report stated:

US Cost Guard said they would not lift the victum from the deck of the vessel.

Why wouldn't the Coast Guard pick up the victum from the deck? (just curious...)

 

[Ice9]

Turn pressure of 600 PSI from 100 ft? Am I reading that report right?

 

[ReefHound]

Why wouldn't the Coast Guard pick up the victum from the deck? (just curious...)

Maybe the equipment or personnel available, maybe the wind/weather, maybe the boat type? I've also heard USCG won't airlift bodies. Did they consider him dead?

I wasn't there, shouldn't second guess actions and protocols, but it sounds like this man should not have died.

Who has ever heard of a dive computer locking up because you were sweating?

 

[fisheater]

It's my understanding that in USCG-speak, a "victim" is dead and a "patient" is still hanging in there (even if barely). If so, that's a very important distinction to make when communicating with the Coasties.

 

[mike_s]

Turn pressure of 600 PSI from 100 ft? Am I reading that report right?

I thought that was odd also. Seems like either poor planning or poor execution. but I wasn't there so hard for me to 2nd gues.. But if one diver was at 600psi at 100ft at the "Turn" of the dive, the other diver could have easily been really close to empty and not realized it, running out of air on the way up. (But like I said, I wasn't there, so can't say for sure0.

Maybe the equipment or personnel available, maybe the wind/weather, maybe the boat type? I've also heard USCG won't airlift bodies. Did they consider him dead?

I was wondering that also. doesn't make much sense to dispatch a helo for a dead body, but then again they were still doing CPR on him, so to me in my opinon a helo should have been dispatched. (but I don't make those decisions for the CG).

One of the other reasons I asked was that someone (not releated to this incident) told me a while back that the Coast Guard wouldn't dispatch a Helicopter to the Tortugas anymore for a diver who got DCS even. But I don't know what their official rule is...

Who has ever heard of a dive computer locking up because you were sweating?

I found that odd....

even odder was the fact they kept diving with it. I mean sweat is essentially water and salt from your body. You'd figure tht salt-water from the ocean would cause simular results, rendering it useless.



With the combination of the "turn at 600psi" on their breathing gas and diving with dive computers with known issues, it seems like to me that these guys didn't establish a pre-dive protocol for their gear and dive plan. But heck, what do I know....

 

[Rick Christ]

Who has ever heard of a dive computer locking up because you were sweating?

This has been a problem with the Citizen watch that has the auto on feature. All of us that work in the dive industry can not use these. I have had all of them and the auto on will set the watch into dive mode every time you get wet or sweat on the sensor, after the watch has gone into dive mode a number of times the watch will think that there is a problem and will go into a self check mode and will be locked up. I wear the old models that do not auto on. I have talked to Citizen factory engineers but they are not concerned with the working dive professional.

 

[ERIC.K]

Our boat, CGC MOHAWK (Key West) were the ones that were tasked with picking up all of his gear from the boat he was using... unfortunately while trying to pick it up out of the water, the valve stem snapped off the tank and his raft sank. all of the gear was lost.... definately a very sad day

The report implied to me that they really were not down that long.....the report I read stated that his gear was secured so i'm not understanding this above post, the report read as though they were diving from a larger vessel than a raft as well and If a valve stem has a crack couldn't that be a possible reason for the OOA emergency. Seriously a valve stem breaking?

 

[captndale]

THE VALVE STEM BROKE OFF? What kinda force must be applied to break that off? I'm a diver of 5 years, are we talking about the same valve stem the 1st stage screws down onto? I pick up tanks routinely from the valve stem....then his raft sank? wow what a tragic day.

A valve stem is brass and is not that hard to break. They may have been trying to lift it with a hook or cable it could have been knocked against the side of the boat a time or two...

 

[captndale]

Why wouldn't the Coast Guard pick up the victum from the deck? (just curious...)

The boat may not have had enough of a clear deck. To lower a Stokes basket onto onto the deck safely they need an area clear of masts, rigging and other obstructions. Otherwise the copter needs to drop a swimmer in the water and do a transfer to the basket in the water. That means that the victim must be in the water also.