Rebreather diver dies in 6 feet of water - Cyprus

[fsardone]

Hypoxia sounds more likely to me than hypercapnia.

Agree. If this machine has been sold in Europe should have had CE certification, which, if not mistaken, requires auto activation by submersion.
Which only leaves failure to turn on oxygen and to pay attention to low oxygen warning of the system. If battery installed. If no battery ....

Is this Hypercapnia - Wikipedia a possibility?

Bad CO2 absorber not scrubbing away the CO2, where the gas accumulated to a fatal concentration in the rebreather loop?

Hypercapnia would give you higher breathing rate, feeling of being unable to get enough air and will to flight .. so at 2m he would have likely bolt out of the water. Hipoxia puts to to sleep without warning. If he kept the mouthpiece in, he would have died dry: no inhalation and just stopped breathing. No oxygen: brain death and muscle stopping including heart and lungs.

 

[seeker242]

Cause of death had been declared by the Cyprus authorities to be asphyxiation by drowning, although there was reportedly no water in Dash’s lungs.

I guess Cyprus authorities aren't too concerned about details...

 

[doctormike]

Yeah, hypercapnia seems unlikely for such an experienced diver. Of course, with an eCCR you need to always know your pO2, and it's hard to imagine the chain of events that would lead to hypoxia in this scenario for someone like this but it could happen.

A few years ago there was a similar incident at our local quarry. I forget all the details, but basically someone was on a rebreather, next to their teenage daughter who was getting training. He was standing on the platform in waist deep water, when he passed out. The daughter asked some other divers to help, and they pulled him out of the water and were able to successfully resuscitate him. I heard that either the O2 wasn't on or some problem with the solenoid, and the pO2 just dropped in the loop until he became hypoxic. I guess that was a failure to monitor. One claimed advantages of a leaky valve is to act as a backup in this situation.

It actually takes a little while for that to happen if the loop isn't hypoxic when you go on it.

 

[KevinNM]

Hypercapnia would give you higher breathing rate, feeling of being unable to get enough air and will to flight .. so at 2m he would have likely bolt out of the water.

Not always. Sometimes you just get stupid and confused and pass out. I know one diver who got saved from a CO2 hit by teammates who make them bail out when they started bouncing off the ceiling, and another diver here had a similar story. I also heard of a diver 7 months who went diving without their scrubber and were saved by a random diver when they passed out.

 

[doctormike]

Not always. Sometimes you just get stupid and confused and pass out. I know one diver who got saved from a CO2 hit by teammates who make them bail out when they started bouncing off the ceiling, and another diver here had a similar story. I also heard of a diver 7 months who went diving without their scrubber and were saved by a random diver when they passed out.

I have also heard a report of a diver having a CO2 hit who knew that he needed to bail out but couldn't bring himself to do it, even though the OC reg was right in front of his face. One of the arguments for a bailout valve.

 

[snowdog61]

Truly sad

 

[Dan]

Asphyxia - Wikipedia

"Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from abnormal breathing. An example of asphyxia is choking. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can induce asphyxia, all of which are characterized by an inability of an individual to acquire sufficient oxygen through breathing for an extended period of time. Asphyxia can cause coma or death."

 

[Caveeagle]

Sad indeed. However, OC can go wrong as quick as an rebreather, don't think OC is much safer. Safety is between your ears, but there's always a risk in diving.

This just seems like a an odd comment, that I just don't believe without some backup. Aside from some really crazy gas screwup. This guy would be alive had he been on OC.

If my gas checks out, OC is not going to just put me to sleep in the middle of a 10' dive, watching my kids.

 

[AJ]

If my gas checks out, OC is not going to just put me to sleep in the middle of a 10' dive, watching my kids.

That's exactly what I mean. OC can kill you as easy as CCR can if you don't pay attention what you're diving and where you're diving. However, I must admit CCR is more unforgiving by it's nature. It's more complex and requires more attention. But in the end, safe diving requires paying attention to every little detail. There's no cutting corners when you want to dive safe. Not even in OC diving.

 

[doctormike]

That's exactly what I mean. OC can kill you as easy as CCR can if you don't pay attention what you're diving and where you're diving. However, I must admit CCR is more unforgiving by it's nature. It's more complex and requires more attention. But in the end, safe diving requires paying attention to every little detail. There's no cutting corners when you want to dive safe. Not even in OC diving.

I think that I know what you mean, but that's sort of like saying that diving the Lusitania is as dangerous as crossing the street, since either way you can get killed if you don't pay attention. I can't stand the knee jerk "rebreathers are unsafe in any circumstances" comments that are posted in these threads, but I also think that it's a gross oversimplification to imply that "OC can kill you as easy as CCR".