Why is a DM (do they actually mean instructor) leading a training dive? If the visibility is as bad as some are saying, OW training dives should not be taking place in this location.
I also wonder how much pool time they had?
What was the emergency that caused the split?
How were they descending? Neutral and horizontal or feet first?
The latter tends to encourage kicking and also make a controlled descent more difficult?
If the vis was that bad, why didn't they descend on a line that would have kept everyone together and made it easier to assist a student?
4 students per DM, and at least one a juvenile, that probably should have had their own pro assisting them?
That one descending faster "caused" him to take his eyes off the group means:
He did not have control.
Their buoyancy control was such that they weren't ready for open water.
The group was above him so - he wasn't with them and could not assist should one have shot to the surface.
The group was not able to watch each other. Why not?
Apparently they were never actually instructed about what the buddy system means. Told about it, I'm sure. But told what happens when it fails? Probably not.
I'd be surprised if they were actually put in buddy teams as opposed to "groups" of four.
Especially any with more than a 1 to 1 ratio in that kind of vis.
I once took 3 students to complete their drysuit certs to a lake that was used by several shops. Normally, the vis was decent. 20 ft or better. Decent for this area. That day it was lightly raining, windy, and when we descended to the bottom of the boat ramp at about 15 feet, I could see all of my students at arm's length. I could not see the cylinders on their backs when everyone was horizontal.
Nope, sorry, not today.
And I would never take more than 2 OW students at a time for the 1st two dives. Didn't matter what the vis was. I once certified a family of 4. On day one I took them 2 at a time. Vis was more than 20 feet. Day two, dive three again, two at a time, but they switched buddies. Dive 4: I took all four after verifying they were capable of staying together and following my instructions. They did great and never got out of arm's reach of each other as buddy teams. I was still nervous. After that, no more than two at a time.
For other classes, unless it was a tech team of 3, I tried to stay with buddy pairs only. I did take an UW Nav class of 3. But one of the students was also an instructor I was mentoring.
This dive never should have taken place with this level of supervision and likely conditions. This may not be as bad as the Linnea Mills case ( it is in that a young person -child drowned while in a training class), but it's damn close.
