Scuba accident in a swimming pool close to my house

[BlueTrin]

First thing to come to my mind is that the accident happened in the pool area (rather than actually in the pool during a dive). Maybe, a dropped cylinder.

rx7diver

That would actually make more sense.

And maybe it didn’t explode but fell on the valve and he got injured by the stage?

 

[rx7diver]

All sorts of possibilities. My dad (ret career Army) recounted an incident in which a soldier died after being struck in the head with a shower nozzle that had "exploded" off the end of the shower pipe. A 1st stage reg, under cylinder pressure, is under much, much greater pressure than the normal pressure of a household water supply. So, if a 1st stage reg were to "explode", ...

I hope we learn the details behind this incident.

rx7diver

 

[Bierstadt]

I have never heard of a tank exploding while in use. While filling, sure, or when dropped, but not in use. Curious to know what happened.

 

[Miyaru]

Perhaps the regulator failed catastrophically and he was deep in that nemo pool and then embolized?

You probably mean the 33m deep pool in Belgium, which is named after the clownfish. This is about a CMAS diving club in the Netherlands.

I agree with the earlier remarks. If this cylinder exploded during the dive, that would be a first. Very likely not what happened, but absolutely the most sensational story for a news site.

Edit:
From the comment section on a Dutch news site:

It is not clear which part has failed. The only thing I've personally seen happen is the high pressure hose to the gauge burst. That manometer swung around with enormous force, then hit the floor tiles on the spot so much that they were shattered.

 

[Bob DBF]

And maybe it didn’t explode but fell on the valve and he got injured by the stage?

If it was dropped and the valve ruptured, one would not notice between that and an explosion while one was scampering for cover. Then later a reporter gives his story of events.

 

[Dody]

I have a question: is a cylinder so fragile that dropping it on the floor from let’s say 1.5 meter would cause an explosion? I am not talking about the valve being broken.

 

[Miyaru]

I have a question: is a cylinder so fragile that dropping it on the floor from let’s say 1.5 meter would cause an explosion?

If you carefully pick the right angle, so it hits a hard surface valve-first, you might be able to turn the cylinder into an uncontrollable projectile. After the cylinder has finally stopped, it's likely still undamaged.
If you drop it on a sharp object, you might be able to get some scratches.

If there's water inside the cylinder, it can cause corrosion in a single spot, which will weaken the tank over time. And that's why an annual visual inspection is required, to prevent such a weak spot from becoming a hazard.

 

[Dody]

If you carefully pick the right angle, so it hits a hard surface valve-first, you might be able to turn the cylinder into an uncontrollable projectile. After the cylinder has finally stopped, it's likely still undamaged.
If you drop it on a sharp object, you might be able to get some scratches.

If there's water inside the cylinder, it can cause corrosion in a single spot, which will weaken the tank over time. And that's why an annual visual inspection is required, to prevent such a weak spot from becoming a hazard.

Thanks. I might be wrong but in the past, I worked in Manufacturing. And whether it was a TV set or a car, we used to do crash tests. Taking some samples to figure under which stress level they would break. I figured that cylinder manufacturers do the same but I could not find any information about that. Like a cylinder should be able to remain ok if dropped from 2m high. This does not apply to the valve of course.

 

[Jeff_O]

I mentioned this before elsewhere on a thread subject, about a reading of the old book I have the New Science of Skin and Scrubs Diving. It tells of a guy for some reason working on a valve or maybe first stage at neck of a full pressurized tank with a wrench. Something had the tank valve blow off. The guy lived, but injuries to skin and being knocked around and closes ripped off by the essential missile like exhaust. The tank broke through wood floor boards, turned and aimed at the wall of the building and went through the concrete. It continued to skip across the ground and after going fifty feet continued another twenty feet digging a trench in the soil till it stopped. I may have made some differences to the story but this is the jist of what was said. Since that is what I saw in my first course text, I know that there is significant force that can be released. Only a burst disk on a valve can get a tank spinning such that the tank could do serious injury perhaps just in that. I saw one doing like a 33 an a 3rd record player on the dock at the Breakwater in Monterey California on day. As much as I found in English article, it was the same. Maybe explosion.

 

[broncobowsher]

The valve being brass and necks down typically as it comes out of the threads as it approaches the valve. A strong angled blow could bend a valve at that location. brass doesn't bend that great. That can break a valve off. But that would still take a huge hit to do. Dropping from height, landing at an angle...

When parts start flying, it just takes a small piece going to the wrong place to cause all kinds of problems. I have a pretty decent scar from a soda bottle blowing up in my hand. Blood squirting wound on my arm. And that was just a piece of glass at a relatively low pressure that was thrown at me.