Recovery diver drowns - Shasta Lake, California

[DandyDon]

UPDATED: Salvage diver dies in search for drowning victim » Redding Record Searchlight

LAKE SHASTA - One of two divers participating in the recovery of an 18-year-old man who drowned Friday also drowned Sunday during the search effort. Deputies said the man, who was identified as Ken Smith, was a salvage diver.
He died after attempting to free an underwater remote operated vehicle that was brought in Saturday for the search, deputies said.
Deputies have said the underwater vehicle arrived Saturday from the San Francisco Police Department to help in the search for the body of Robinson Sok, 18.
But, sheriff’s deputies said, the remote-operated vehicle became entangled Saturday and Smith attempted Sunday to retrieve it.
A sheriff’s office dive team member, John Zufall, was stationed in the water as a safety diver during the dive with Smith, deputies said.
Zufall surfaced with the salvage diver, but deputies said, Smith could not be revived and he was later pronounced dead at a Redding area hospital.
Zufall was later flown to Travis Air Force Base and placed in a decompression chamber. His injuries are not considered life threatening.
Emergency dispatchers reported around 10:30 a.m. a possible drowning in the Holiday Harbor area of Lake Shasta.
Lt. Mark Lillibridge said the recovery effort for the 18-year-old Sok was temporarily halted.
Sok drowned after jumping in the lake to help a friend who was struggling in the water.
That friend was saved, but Sok didn’t resurface, sheriff’s deputies have said.
The lake’s depths range from 190 feet to 250 feet in the search area.

 

[Ayisha]

You hear about not making a second victim, and in this case there are three. A friend was struggling in the water, so a friend jumped in and didn't resurface; a salvage diver tried to untangle a ROV that was searching for the first victim, and drowned; the safety diver that brought up the salvage diver suffered DCS. Whew.

 

[norcal_43]

This really hit home... Ken is a really close friend to my father-in-law. I just wanted to let you all know what type of person Ken was. Whenever I saw Ken he always had a huge smile. I never once heard say anything bad about anyone. He pretty much was retired and living large. Ken also did ski mountain search and rescue volunteer work. Ken did this as a hobby and out of helping others. Ken was a true outdoorsman. I feel for his family and the people who know him.

---------- Post added September 9th, 2013 at 02:31 PM ----------

I should say it was not a hobby since he was really experienced diver. He worked on the water for several years.

 

[pocky21]

First of all, I hate reading stories like this - where experienced, good meaning divers pass while serving a cause not of their own.

Having said that - being a recovery, the operation falls under commercial diving, does it not? OSHA has some pretty clear cut rules for commercial operations below 100'. Was he not on surface supply, and was there not a chamber on-site? There's a lot of details missing in the story, but from what little is given, I think OSHA is going to hang someone out to dry.

 

[muddiver]

Highly unlikely that OSHA will get involved, unless the diver was an employee of a company that sent him to do the job. Oh, and recoveries in California are typically done by the local law enforcement, not commercial divers. Strange that the report states he was a salvage diver.

 

[El Buzadero]

"Oh, and recoveries in California are typically done by the local law enforcement, not commercial divers."

That's part of the problem. Just because the Agency helps you buy some fancy gear and pays for some cool t-shirts with "DIVE TEAM" airbrushed on them, doesn't mean you are automatically qualified and should be running down to depth in the dark at ranges where the regulations would have had the aforementioned hose-gear and DDC had you been operating per the rules.
Just like all the other LEO and maintenance divers that get in trouble every year, until OSHA and/or the ADC are adopted as the governing body for this kind of activity, you'll keep seeing stories like this.
Condolences to Mr. Smith's family and friends.

 

[norcal_43]

"Oh, and recoveries in California are typically done by the local law enforcement, not commercial divers."

That's part of the problem. Just because the Agency helps you buy some fancy gear and pays for some cool t-shirts with "DIVE TEAM" airbrushed on them, doesn't mean you are automatically qualified and should be running down to depth in the dark at ranges where the regulations would have had the aforementioned hose-gear and DDC had you been operating per the rules.
Just like all the other LEO and maintenance divers that get in trouble every year, until OSHA and/or the ADC are adopted as the governing body for this kind of activity, you'll keep seeing stories like this.
Condolences to Mr. Smith's family and friends.

No cool dive team shirt... Ken did not need it. I know he did do salvage diving before.

 

[Jared0425]

What depths were they dealing with? I know our dive team needs to have a chamber and a bell past 100'.

 

[El Buzadero]

They found him at -173ffw. The fouled ROV had active depth showing on the display, so the depth in the area was known ahead of time.

 

[Jared0425]

Well that raises quite a few questions about the dive itself. That's quite deep for a PSD to go.