Philippines / Masbate - Volunteer Robredo recovery diver DCS incident

[eagerbeaver]

I'd like to read Matt's report here if ever he comes around to writing one.

We at Evolution Diving extend our deepest sympathy and respect for Secretary Jesse Robredo, Captain Jessup Bahinting, co-pilot K****z Chand and their families and loved ones. We'd like to recognize all the individuals from Government and the Joint Forces as well as civilian volunteers. We're humbled to have been able to play a small part in the search effort, which was run efficiently by all involved, and we will continue to assist in the future if we are needed. In light of this national tragedy, we at Evolution Diving choose to show our respect by silence and defer all questions to the official leadership of the search and recovery operations.

As a special note for Scubaboard and this discussion - the Evolution team members of myself, Anna Cu Unjieng, and Shelagh Cooley, operated as an independent team. Other dive teams were briefed and tasked differently, so I cannot give any more info.

 

[paolov]

defer all questions to the official leadership of the search and recovery operations.

ok then, lets discuss at our special backroom here in Scubaboard.
pd:

 

[beautybelow]

Ok...I guess I mis understood the situation. Now let the judgements continue.

 

[DevonDiver]

Judgement isn't really necessary. The only 'judgement' I'd make was that Danny stepped forward and got involved with an operation that had profound meaning for the Filipino people and ultimately resulted in a great deal of peace of mind for the family, friends and relatives of the deceased.

The purpose of debate, here in the A&I forum, is to identify lessons learned with a view to promoting future safe diving. Until such time as details of the incident, specifically the diver's training, involvement with the recovery project and the planning and conduct of the specific dive profile become public, there's very little informed debate that can occur.

I see two areas of interest when it comes to 'accident analysis' - the issue of the diver/dive itself and the over-arching issue of the command, control and organisation of the retrieval operation. There will be lessons to be learned from both, I am sure.

Here in the Philippines, a limited public infrastructure and budget means that it is typical to integrate civilian volunteers into any disaster/incident response. This isn't the first rescue/search-and-recovery operation to have involved technical diving depths or civilian volunteer divers, and it certainly won't be the last.

 

[Madel]

Kudos!

 

[DevonDiver]

It was an accident ok?

Not really. Accident analysis exists to ensure the same mistakes aren't repeated, or at least, that evidence is obtained to further understand the parameters of DCS incidence.

He's been diving for more than 20 years.

Irrelevant.

What is relevant is the nature and level of his appropriate training for the dives he undertook. This would indicate whether he knew of, and applied, the correct procedures, protocols and planning to mitigating the known risks posed on the dive.

A recreational diving instructor certification (which is all that has been shown thus far?) is not appropriate training for dives below 40m/130ft (the mainstream agency mandated maximum depth limit for recreational divers). Nor is it appropriate training for dives beyond no-decompression limits. Nor is it appropriate training for accelerated decompression/mixed-gas/nitrox use beyond 40%.

Nobody could explain what really happened underwater. Even the doctors and dive professionals, they were just guessing...

There are likely to be records from his personal diving computer, evidence of the dive plan he calculated for the dive, gas mixtures used for bottom-gas and deco. His equipment. His training and experience (as mentioned). His medical records.. and, yes, samples could have been taken to prove, or disprove, various potential medical issues; such as, hypoxia, hyperoxia, CO2 retention etc etc

If they treated him in a chamber - then the dive medics must have known "something" about his condition and dive profile.


Please don't come online with an intention to stifle analysis. It's sad enough that no inquest seems to be pending by the appropriate Philippines authorities - obviously they don't care to learn from events, prevent similar occurrences in the future. Nothing new there..

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

As a tech diver, I would love to learn more. Unfortunately as is often the case we just don't have any real information related to the hit.

- he could have just been on the wrong side of the bell curve on the day. Maybe the dive was conservatively planned And perfectly executed but random bad luck resulted in an undeserved hit.
- maybe he was working harder under water than he previously had and this impacted his on gassing.
- maybe he blew off some deco for some currently unknown reason.
- maybe he had eggs for breakfast and his stomach battled resulting in some dehydration.

What I am getting at is we just don't have the info yet.

Yes I would love to see the dive plan and compare that to profile and team actions. But this is SB and my guess is that is unlikely. Sadly unless a team member or official makes a statement voluntarily, we are not going to learn much here.

I've been one to speculate in past threads, but with what we have I wouldn't even know where to start.

 

[eagerbeaver]

I do not have the full story, I have only small parts, but if it might help piece the puzzle together then this is what I know -
-Danny left the shore wearing a single tank as he boarded the boat
-Danny was carrying an 11l bottle rigged as a stage; I'm relatively confident it was not marked in anyway with an MOD so I am assuming it was air or bottom mix, and he could(this is me speculating) have been using that as a reserve in the absence of doubles
-Danny was carrying another 5.5l bottle rigged as a stage; these are what we commonly use as deco bottles, but I cannot say with any level of certainty what gas was in it or if it was marked with any MODs or if it was even for him to use - he may have just been carrying it.
-The other volunteer divers who left the shore at the same time as Danny were mostly wearing doubles or sidemount, mostly guys I know personally as having technical instructor ratings. There were a few other divers wearing single tanks.
-Danny's hit was not " on the wrong side of the bell curve on the day". I've seen numerous cases of that over the years, where someone got an "undeserved" case of Type 1 DCS, mild pain, tingling etc. Danny's case was major, he was barely conscious, twitching, deathly pale white, and frothing at the mouth. It was indicative of a fast ascent and/or significant missed deco stops. If he had not got to the chamber quickly it could have been a very different outcome.
-There was current. I had exited the water several hours earlier but had experienced a fairly decent current, and I was diving at "slack". I'm confident that at that location on that day there was current all day.

What I don't know -
-Danny's cert level if any in technical diving
-The dive plan
-His dive buddies
-What happened in the water

Here's hoping Danny makes a full recovery and can add more info to help us avoid future accidents.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

Matt,

My initial uneducated guess was that we were talking serious depth. Maybe 250 ft plus. Your description of equipment makes me realize I was wrong. Does anyone know the depth of the plane wreck?

I know that one body was recovered at 150 ft, but for some reason assumed the actual wreck was deeper.

 

[eagerbeaver]

The plane and the bodies were found at 60m - 200ft. I found them.