Bends feared after diver collapses off Hillsboro Inlet after 12-minute dive
By Juan Ortega
sun-sentinel.com
Posted February 23 2007, 3:30 PM EST
POMPANO BEACH -- A 62-year-old male diver collapsed aboard a commercial diving boat after making a too-rapid ascent from 200 feet of water off Hillsboro Inlet, officials said.
Paramedics took him to North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach where he was being treated for the bends -- a form of decompression sickeness, said city spokeswoman Sxxxxx Kxxx.
The diver, whose identity and medical condition wasn't released, was wearing air tanks during a 12-minute dive and had some kind of emergency, Kxxx said. He made a too-rapid ascent and was conscious when he made it back onto the deck of the Avid Diver. He collapsed six or seven minutes later.
A vessel from Seatow, a Fort Lauderdale marine towing company, and took him to a nearby dock, said Mxxx Cxxxxxx, a Seatow dispatcher. The diver then was taken to the medical center.
The bends are caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the blood stream and in tissues following a sudden drop in the surrounding pressure -- as in ascending too rapidly from a dive. It is characterized by severe pains in the joints and chest, skin irritation, cramps, and sometimes paralysis.
By Juan Ortega
sun-sentinel.com
Posted February 23 2007, 3:30 PM EST
POMPANO BEACH -- A 62-year-old male diver collapsed aboard a commercial diving boat after making a too-rapid ascent from 200 feet of water off Hillsboro Inlet, officials said.
Paramedics took him to North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach where he was being treated for the bends -- a form of decompression sickeness, said city spokeswoman Sxxxxx Kxxx.
The diver, whose identity and medical condition wasn't released, was wearing air tanks during a 12-minute dive and had some kind of emergency, Kxxx said. He made a too-rapid ascent and was conscious when he made it back onto the deck of the Avid Diver. He collapsed six or seven minutes later.
A vessel from Seatow, a Fort Lauderdale marine towing company, and took him to a nearby dock, said Mxxx Cxxxxxx, a Seatow dispatcher. The diver then was taken to the medical center.
The bends are caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the blood stream and in tissues following a sudden drop in the surrounding pressure -- as in ascending too rapidly from a dive. It is characterized by severe pains in the joints and chest, skin irritation, cramps, and sometimes paralysis.
