Ontario diver dead - Bell Island, Canada

[Stoo]

I think recreational divers underestimate how stressful 2C water can be (summertime temps on the bottom). It's not as simple as throwing on another layer of long underwear under your California or New Jersey drysuit setup. 2C is exponentially colder and more challenging than 8C

Exactly... I do a lot of my diving in Tobermory, which is well known for it's water temperatures. Two years ago, we "locked down" up there and since it was an early spring, we had our boat in and we were diving most days from about April 10 or something. The water was about 34°-35° top to bottom, and even after a simple little 100'/40 minute dive, wearing a good drysuit, thick undies, dry gloves with heat packs and as many socks as I could stuff in to my boots, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck that night. It doesn't help that I'm an old bastard, but still, it's hard going. By June, the bottom temp is only up to 39° or so, but it's an entirely different dive, but the top 30' are more like 50°.

It's worth it though for the 150' plus visibility!

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Would be interesting to see what the statistics are for passings with Health Issues, vs, Equipment, vs Decision Errors.

Dandy Don - any info?

For deaths in caves I believe it is almost always decision errors. Navigation or gas management or complacency. But open water I dont know what would be most common?

Always sad to read of divers passing away.

 

[quietlife4me]

The DAN 2020 report for 2018 shows 189 recreational diver deaths.

Last paragraph of the report…

“Most scuba fatalities occur in older divers and are related to health and fitness issues.”

In another DAN report I can’t find…I remember hearing that ~50% of deaths are caused by “out of air” situations. Which I agree with the commentator who said that the number is baffling given all the training and focus on air and redundancies/buddy.

 

[SlugLife]

The DAN 2020 report for 2018 shows 189 recreational diver deaths.

Last paragraph of the report…

“Most scuba fatalities occur in older divers and are related to health and fitness issues.”

In another DAN report I can’t find…I remember hearing that ~50% of deaths are caused by “out of air” situations. Which I agree with the commentator who said that the number is baffling given all the training and focus on air and redundancies/buddy.

I'm mostly with you, except one minor point. Yes, buddy-diving is HEAVILY promoted in training, however from my ancedotal observation and experience, redundant air is not promoted. I personally take redundant air on EVERY dive, but I've practically never seen another diver with redundant air. (I'll leave it there to avoid drifting too far off topic).

 

[Stoo]

In recent years, I think all fatalities have been age/health causes. By “health” I mean obesity and cardiac issues.

Back in the 80s, fatalities were almost all caused initially by a regulator freeze up before things went sideways. Several fatalities occured as doubles.

 

[DandyDon]

Would be interesting to see what the statistics are for passings with Health Issues, vs, Equipment, vs Decision Errors.

Dandy Don - any info?

Me? Gosh, I am no authority on such. I report accidents as I find them, but I haven't done any studies. I just got out of the hospital this morning after another round with my cardiologist, but it was for a previously placed leg stent that broke (vulnerable position near the knee) and clogged, but they still think that I'm fit to dive. Well, they don't know my record of klutz dives, just speaking to my health alone, but I have tried to learn well from those.

he DAN 2020 report for 2018 shows 189 recreational diver deaths.

Last paragraph of the report…

“Most scuba fatalities occur in older divers and are related to health and fitness issues.”

Did it give an age for that?

In another DAN report I can’t find…I remember hearing that ~50% of deaths are caused by “out of air” situations. Which I agree with the commentator who said that the number is baffling given all the training and focus on air and redundancies/buddy.

I'd like to see that one if you can find it. Of my klutz dives that I have survived, I found that a 50+ foot CESA was pretty easy to accomplish safely. One of the very few dives when my pony was not filled yet on the first day of a trip with a shop I no longer use.

I'm mostly with you, except one minor point. Yes, buddy-diving is HEAVILY promoted in training, however from my ancedotal observation and experience, redundant air is not promoted. I personally take redundant air on EVERY dive, but I've practically never seen another diver with redundant air. (I'll leave it there to avoid drifting too far off topic).

Yep, my pony has several hydro dates and thousands of air miles in travel, but I never notice any others.

In recent years, I think all fatalities have been age/health causes. By “health” I mean obesity and cardiac issues.

I'm sorry, but that does not make sense, at least as typed. Certainly not "all." I think that most that are found are found with weights securely attached, and I am a strong supporter of risking rapid ascent injuries over drownings which are almost always more deadly. If panic is your copilot, surface, whatever it takes.

 

[boulderjohn]

It's been years since I studied this carefully, but I used to go over the DAN reports every single year, reading every description of every death, with the goal of refuting the constant misinformation spouted on ScubaBoard. Things have gotten a lot better in that regard, so I have not been as concerned in a long time. What follows is from my memory of my past studies and from a joint PADI/DAN study done about a decade ago.

1. By far the highest percentage of deaths are related to health issues, especially cardiac issues. It is usually over 40%.
2. The PADI/DAN study found that the most common fatality from an accident that could be related to diver action (and thus training) was an air embolism following a rapid ascent to the surface. There is no way of knowing, but such ascents probably included some breath holding. Many of those ascents followed OOA situations, and many of those situations included buddy separation. Following that study, PADI redid their OW course, adding more emphasis on the buddy system and OOA practice. That frustrated me personally, because what the PADI/DAN study essentially said is that the divers did not do a proper CESA, but no change was made to CESA instruction. (I have written this before, but as a former professional educator, I believe faulty methods of teaching CESA encourage breath holding ascents.)
3. As mentioned in the last point, buddy separation, often unintentional, is common in fatalities. In many of those cases, the diver is simply found dead following a search, and there is often no good way to know what happened. In all but one fatality involving someone I know, buddy separation was involved. In one such case, they separated for seconds in shallow water while ending the dive. Despite all efforts to analyze the situation, including an inconclusive autopsy, no one could figure out what happened.
4. Equipment problems are very rare.
5. Fatalities often include older and obese divers.
6. Dive accident reports started to be gathered in 1970, when the world diving population was very small compared to today. In those early years, the group collecting the information was not DAN (DAN accepted their data years later), and they did not have good information gathering ability. Despite that, when I was studying these things, in every year I did it, the average number of annual fatalities for those first 10 years was about twice the average for the most recent 10 years. (It used to be common for ScubaBoard participants to claim that DAN studies have shown a huge rise in fatalities, which is the opposite of the truth.)

There is an old saying in the area of medicine--when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. In the last few years of reading accident reports on ScubaBoard, when I see an explanation of what is known, in almost all cases, it sounds like an obvious medical issue to me. Yet we have page after page after page of people arguing over exotic scenarios that might have caused the death.

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

I can understand heath issues for older divers and overweight divers. Some might be swimming in current and that physical stress is too much for them, or and issue that creates panic and the stress is too much for them.

OOA as 50% of deaths. It's hard to understand how the percentage could be that high (not questioning the information posted). How do divers allow their air/gas level to get that low or OOA?
On my open water gear - I have my console replaced wth a pressure gauge only. The gauge has a bolt snap tied on to it and it all connects to my upper left chest D-ring. It is always easy to read, always exactly where I expect it to be.

 

[wgw04024]

It also amazes me how many of the 'deaths reported' here are divers without buddies at the time. From reading these for years, it has instilled in me that the possibility of death while diving, if I am in contact with my buddy, is dramatically decreased.

 

[SlugLife]

If panic is your copilot, surface, whatever it takes.

Thankfully, that's not me. In just about every situation I've been in, it's everyone else panicking, even when [omitting gruesome details] you'd think it's me that should be the one in panic.

I'd like to see that one if you can find it. Of my klutz dives that I have survived, I found that a 50+ foot CESA was pretty easy to accomplish safely. One of the very few dives when my pony was not filled yet on the first day of a trip with a shop I no longer use.

Yikes. Might be worth getting a transfil whip.

with the goal of refuting the constant misinformation spouted on ScubaBoard.

For your own sanity, perhaps stay away form Facebook.

air embolism following a rapid ascent to the surface. There is no way of knowing, but such ascents probably included some breath holding. Many of those ascents followed OOA situations, and many of those situations included buddy separation

That's a major reasons why I encourage redundant air, even if one buddy-dives. Mr Pony is the dive buddy that doesn't abandon you to go look at a cool fish.

Regardless, having that redundant air supply may be enough to prevent panic and resolve a situation, even if that situation has nothing to do with OOA. Even some of the heart-attacks underwater may be heavily panic-induced.