Scuba diver death in Rochester NY

[eriediver2002]

All dive deaths are preventable...

Having gone to school in the area, and done some dives with a professor at the time, I can tell you those waters are very cold and very dark and potentially pretty scary. Sad to hear this guy get stuck under such conditions.

Not all "dive deaths" are preventable. Some people die while diving (coulda been shovelling snow, cutting wood, mowing the lawn etc.).
His death had nothing to do with "buddy abandonment" etc. etc.

People shouldn't point fingers when they don't have a clue what's going on

 

[Web Monkey]

Not all "dive deaths" are preventable. Some people die while diving (coulda been shovelling snow, cutting wood, mowing the lawn etc.).
His death had nothing to do with "buddy abandonment" etc. etc.

People shouldn't point fingers when they don't have a clue what's going on

Short of a catastrophic health problem like a heart-attack or aneurysm, a good buddy can help with almost any emergency.

Terry

 

[calvillo]

In the end we all dive alone. Being pro-active in your thinking can help you solve problems on your own without relying on someone else.

There is too little information here to draw any conclusions. Even the police report or autopsy report may shed little light on exactly what happened. Police, in particular, are seldom used to investigating diving deaths and the unique factors involved.

 

[diver 85]

From reading the report linked by the OP, looks like a couple mistakes were made that could/might have changed the outcome.......If so, we can all learn a lesson or 2, or 3.....my best to the family & survivors......

 

[jsado]

Having gone to school in the area, and done some dives with a professor at the time, I can tell you those waters are very cold and very dark and potentially pretty scary.

I dive these very waters quite often. And yes sometimes they are 77 on the surface and 48 at 50 ft. And my least favorite is when the visibility is so bad, I have to hold my computer 6 inches from my mask just to make out the display.....Then sometimes vis is a good 30-40 ft...once in a while, I even see a fish.

My favorite dive destination is the St. Lawrence river in the 1000 island region.

 

[z3r0c00l]

Exactly mate but those waters are also great. The empress? Ive never been but some day... Ice cold waters, even when dark, have a real appeal. That is when you really feel like you are deep!

Btw when I said all dive deaths are preventable, I mean it:

If you dont dive on a given day, you wont die a dive death unless someone forces you at gunpoint to dive. And then on top of that, even if you must dive, you can still prevent death. A broken regulator, a shark biting your leg off, your tank exploding, these are all things that can be prevented and should be. I wont even get into the typical accident profile of: "X dove to 100 feet after a long night, ran out of air and bounced up and down 3 times before drowning."

 

[WarrenZ]

Once again --let's wait until there is more information to form opinions.

Jeff

Thanks for that I whole heartedly agree.

Besides solo, cold, and 140' deep are not a problem if he had the proper experience and gear to complete the dive. Now I am sure that there will be endless discussion about dives such as this one but lets wait for the facts regarding the situation to be let out.

 

[Web Monkey]

Talk about someone who has lots to learn.

Maybe not as much as you think.

If you read the accident reports, you'll find that almost all diving fatalities involve doing something that was outside the diver's training, or trained conditions or involved poor judgment or not following established procedures.

Terry

 

[EastEndDiver]

Maybe not as much as you think.

If you read the accident reports, you'll find that almost all diving fatalities involve doing something that was outside the diver's training, or trained conditions or involved poor judgment or not following established procedures.

Terry

The key word you use is "ALMOST" when you refer to ALL diving fatalities.Which translates to NOT ALL diving fatalities can be prevented ,and NOT all can be prevented.

 

[Web Monkey]

Hey, why stop there? Even the medical problems are preventable. I'm sure someone like you will bring up the point that those that died from medical problems probably should have seen that coming too with the proper exams etc.

Death from age and disease is not preventable. Everybody dies eventually.

Death from doing something wrong is preventable.

Nice to know that someone has this whole dive accidents thing figured out so that it's absolutely black and white, and that nearly everyone who dies diving is either careless or stupid. You rule, dude.

Thanks! It's nice to be appreciated. In this incident, the death would have been prevented if he had surfaced with his buddy.

Although it's nice to think that SCUBA deaths are random events and that nobody bears any responsibility, that's just not true.

In this case, as well as a huge percentage of others, death or injury could be prevented by not exceeding or ignoring training, and diving with (and staying with) a qualified buddy.

I'm not heartless and feel bad for the guy's friends and family (as well as his buddy), however this forum is for discussing accidents in the hope of preventing a future recurrence.

Terry