Polish cave diver critical - Marcilhac-sur-Célé, France

[DandyDon]

Lot : un plongeur entre la vie et la mort après un accident de spéléologie à Marcilhac-sur-Célé
Google translation...

Lot: a diver between life and death after a caving accident in Marcilhac-sur-Célé

A Polish diver was the victim of an accident, without our knowing the exact cause yet, this Saturday afternoon at the emergence of Ressel, in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. He was taken to Cahors hospital, unconscious.

A diving accident occurred this Saturday around 4:30 p.m. in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. When the Ressel emerged, a source of underground water well known to diving enthusiasts, a Polish caving enthusiast found himself in a bad position when he was only beginning to dive. Around him, other practitioners were present. "The accident took place at the start of the course, the victim was not yet ten meters deep when she had to be taken out of the water by other divers who were around including Swiss, a French and a German ", indicates Jean-Paul Mignat, the mayor of the town.

According to him, an experienced instructor was supervising an outing when the accident occurred. It was she who performed the cardiac massage on the victim while awaiting the arrival of help. On site, the firefighters then took over. The victim in cardiac arrest was able to resume cardio-respiratory activity thanks to the first aid actions of the guide and the firefighters. The teams from Cajarc, Cahors as well as the SDIS divers from Lot and Aveyron intervened.

The man was then transferred to the hospital in Cahors, unconscious, in serious condition. "We do not yet know his identity and have no information on the circumstances of the accident, he was evacuated to Cahors with a pulse," said Lieutenant Huguet of the Saint-Céré brigade on the spot. . Still impossible to know if the accident is related to a technical problem, to a decompression or to a cardiac malaise. Still, at 19 hours this Saturday evening, his vital prognosis was engaged.

"This is the 4th accident that has occurred at Ressel since the site became known as a major diving center," notes the mayor. In the last three accidents, the divers had lost their lives. On July 13, 2020, in Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie, a 43-year-old diver was killed in the resurgence of the Blue Source, victim of a decompression accident.

 

[cathal]

Reading that article, it appears to be heart related and occurred at the start of the dive.

 

[jale]

Hi
Diving the Ressel involves going a bit upstream the Célé river before you reach the site.
It is not long but sometimes the current might be a bit strong or sometimes the water level is a bit low and it might be a struggle with double, stages and so on...not good for the heart.
Lets hope he will be fine.

 

[Hiszpan]

From the FB chatter (Google Translated) from the victim's friend:

"The incident took place in French Ressel. Robert prepared to dive, went into the water, and was found unconscious 7 minutes after submerging.
A second independent diving team that began its dive a bit later found Robert. On the shore, a qualified lifeguard diver was preparing to dive and immediately proceeded to resuscitation. Pulse returned, Robert was taken to the hospital...
After a conversation with friends, we will not provide more detailed information at the moment."

 

[DandyDon]

He's still alive at least. Modern medicine does work miracles at times so there's hope.
Lot: After the cave accident, the diver is still in serious condition – ScoopCube

 

[Hiszpan]

Unfortunately, Robert Kozubek has passed away.

He was planning a solo dive in "Emergence du Ressel": "deep loop," total length approx 2500 m, time approx 3 h. Dive config T-Reb, 2x Seacraft, Bailout 20 l 10/70 250 bar, 11 l 12/50 230 bar. (deco 11 l EAN 50, 5,7 l Oxy)

(Those are his photos from before the dive)

The FB chatter is fervent. One of the commentators alleged that Robert died due to hypoxia caused by closed ADV (whatever that means).

It is alleged that Robert has recently 'changed the diving equipment (meaning the Rebreather model),' that he was rushed through the training on the new model by the instructor 'to hasten the sale' and that half of the instruction's manual pages passed on to him by the said instructor were missing/could not be read (not sure which suits better here).

The most vocal critic of the situation is accusing CCR instructors in Poland that a lot of them should, nicely speaking, go and find themselves another profession as they severely lack competence, understanding of the basics of physics and that they employ shortcuts in their training. He is adamant the tragedy was caused by the faulty training on this type of rebreather as Robert was a very experienced diver and instructor who would not contravene his training.
There is also a comparison of this tragic event to a Fontanazzi fatality that happened during training a few years ago. It was an IANTD cave course, and the student died.

Robert was 53, and it was his birthday on the 8th of May. He conducted his final dive on his birthday.
He was a PADI and HSA(?) diving instructor and a parachute jumper, kung-fu instructor, and a lifeguard.

 

[lowwall]

HSA is Handicapped Scuba Association.

I asked my wife to translate his bio from the security company he owned - http://www.bork-dobczyce.pl/ofirmie.html . It says he was a diver since 1987 and a scuba instructor. He also had a Master's degree in Physical Education (entrance into such a program when he did it required a high level of physical fitness as well as academic achievement) and taught swimming and first aid classes, he had been a lifeguard, and had been a paratrooper in the Polish armed forces.

 

[rjack321]

The FB chatter is fervent. One of the commentators alleged that Robert died due to hypoxia caused by closed ADV (whatever that means).

The ADV= automatic diluent valve and it should be closed at the surface (or at least not activating).

Diluent being closed would not cause hypoxia but his oxygen being shut off would lead to hypoxia in a few minutes (3 to 7 is very plausible).

 

[Hiszpan]

The ADV= automatic diluent valve and it should be closed at the surface (or at least not activating).

Diluent being closed would not cause hypoxia but his oxygen being shut off would lead to hypoxia in a few minutes (3 to 7 is very plausible).

Apologies, I have gone over the FB messages again and they seem to imply that:

"the basics of CCR diving is to have an ADV in a closed position - if ADV is open at that depth then it is a total misunderstanding of physics' laws and if someone dives like that shortly after the CCR course then who gave him a CCR Diver qualification?"

That would agree with what you said - ADV was open. The dive was just at the beginning so the diver was not far from the surface.

But the biggest bombshell claim came in this morning from one of the commentators - Robert has not opened the Oxygen supply - which again would agree with your suggestion.

Some other information now includes:

- Robert switched from OC to CCR diving about a year ago
- his T-Reb has been repaired about 4 times by the accredited service center due to "leakage due to inappropriate glue used to connect those type of elements, flooding of the handset and divergent sensors' readings" (a least 10 events like this)
- Robert was part of the TDI Cave Instructor training course happening in France shortly before the accident, with other Polish instructors taking part
- someone claims to have dove with Robert and his group about a year ago and predicted they might get into trouble in the future due to unsafe diving practices

 

[Marie13]