Report of barracuda attack off Myanmar

[MdScubaAl]

The Washington Post reported Fish Attack Just Start of Diver's Ordeal - washingtonpost.com that a woman was attacked - apparently by a barracuda on a night dive. The story reports that she needed multiple surgeries.

It's quite a story - also highlighting some familiar problems with foreign (and US) government bureaucracy. It sounds like Ms. Matthews responded well under stress however - staying with her dive master buddy and making a safe ascent.

I've often watched barracuda circle around, but never have seen one as aggressive as described here. Any thoughts?

 

[vladimir]

There's a classic post about a barracuda attack by Cudabait in this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/marine-life-ecosystems/33429-barracuda-attack.html

 

[RAD Diver]

Night Dive, never shine light directly at a Barracuda & leave trained on it. It will use it like a tractor beam & follow it to the end.
I was told this during a trip to the Texas Flower Gardens & it seemed to be true enough. My wife was always checking them out with her light & they seemed aggravated until she moved light.
All these Barracudas were well over 3 ft long also, so it could have been very nasty.

 

[kmitch]

I read about this in the post this AM too.... supposedly in a cave as well. Bad idea to shine the light into his eye, probably would have survived if she aimed the light off to the side.

 

[ScubaKay]

I saw that article as well.

I hope she's okay.

The article seems to have been written with a flair for the drama, which seems the usual style with dive accident news reports.

Some key information the author of the article (Christian Davenport) fails to mention:

- If the boat and company had a medical evacuation plan and was properly equipped and trained to handle minor medical emergencies.

- If the boat and company were "legitimate", legal and operating within acceptable safety standards.

- If she had DAN or other dive/travel insurance or programs that typically assist with evacuations and medical support.

- Were the passport difficulties with Myanmar or Thailand or both? The article implied that she may have left from Myanmar, but went to Thailand for treatment. Was it because she entered through Myanmar, but was evacuated to Thailand without properly exiting Myanmar?

The article also does not mention the political turmoil at the time of her accident (mid-December) which may have affected her ordeal. The two main airports in Bangkok were closed for a period of time at the beginning of December.

The only night dives I have done are at 20-40 feet deep and nowhere near a cave. Does it seem out of the norm to do night diving in a cave, and at 60 feet?

 

[RAD Diver]

Kay: I'm no cave diver, but I would imagine that since there is very little ambient light in a cave, that diving at night wouldn't be that much of a stretch. As far as 60 ft deep, that also wouldn't be a problem, my last one was off the Va. Beach coast last November & was at 95fsw.

 

[Dadvocate]

Wow, what an amazing story!

I agree that Sabrina did a good job of keeping her cool in a covered environment after that attack.

I don’t know that it was *a feat* that she didn’t spit out her reg. We are trained to keep them in. All the same, she handled herself well. I hope she has a complete recovery and goes out diving again. The airport closures were well over by mid December. Planes were underway by the Dec. 6 or so.

Thanks for those who mentioned not shining light directly into the eyes of barracuda. I did not know that this could be dangerous. I just finished 203 dives myself in Thailand aboard a liveaboard at roughly the same time as her trip. I got pretty close to some barracuda on a few of those dives while flashing my strobe to get some shots of them. I’ll be more careful next time.

Cheers!

 

[Tricia]

Another great story of why you need to sign up for DAN and keep your membership current.

Trish

 

[jeffchandler1]

Ya know, it really pisses me off when my wife gets up at night and turns on the light in the bathroom. If I had a spear gun at those times.....

If someone where shining a flashlight in your bedroom window at night, would you fire at will?

Frankly, I don't blame the fish. There it is, minding its own business in a dark cave, and some idiot comes around shining a torch. What's a fish to do?

 

[escapeartist]

Ya know, it really pisses me off when my wife gets up at night and turns on the light in the bathroom. If I had a spear gun at those times.....