Search and Rescue - Scubaboard Staff Member - Northernone - Missing in Cozumel

[luscioman]

This area is pretty heavily traveled by cruise ships. Has anyone contacted NCL, Carnival, RCL etc so that are on extra watch for him?

 

[RayfromTX]

The Canadian TV CTV morning show.
Your Morning S3:E Quebec diver still missing in Mexico

 

[chillyinCanada]

Good interview Ray. Must be very difficult for you and more difficult every day

 

[cicopo]

I saw the Morning Show interview & it has also made our (Ottawa, On) local news as of noon today. That usually means it will also be presented at dinner time (more than once usually) & again at the 11:30 time slot.

 

[cicopo]

As an FYI the interview you did for the morning show was with the son of one of our former Prime Ministers, Conservative Party Leader (at the time) Brian Mulrony. .

 

[letterboy]

The Canadian TV CTV morning show.
Your Morning S3:E Quebec diver still missing in Mexico

Great work! Thanks.

Sidenote: Ray, is that a bowl on your counter behind you or your sink?

Either way I like it.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Two planes heading out from Miami. Each for 5 hours
Cuban authorities have also been notified, but have not begun a search. Notifications are being sent out to all boats in the area .
Gulf district of the US coastguard is aware and will help once they get an official request from the Canadian or Mexican SAR.
Tried to call Canadian foreign affairs but have not heard back from them.

I don't know what other areas were searched, but I do know that yesterday's air patrols had great visibility.

Holbox fishing fleet is aware of the situation.

Cruise ships were alerted a few days ago.

 

[WetInPortland]

The only exception they saw was if the scooter Cameron was using somehow became flooded and thus became a 50lbs anchor. If, and I stress if, the scooter flooded the three divers agreed in a 3+ knot down current it would literally be impossible to unclip the scooter to free himself, thus dragging himself to the depths.

As I haven't seen in mentioned, would it be worth inquiring with one of the submarine touring companies on the island to make a search pass at greater depths? I don't know if this is practical, what the safety concerns would be, costs, etc. Sorry I didn't think of this sooner.

 

[luscioman]

Please PM if you need more planes out of Miami. I have a few friends in the coast guard aux with planes.

 

[deepsea21]

That should have been done by the SAR officer in charge. First thing you do (or should) is drop a weighted buoy at the last known location.

In my opinion that wouldn't have proven very helpful. It took Mexico SAR over 24 hours to get the first asset in the air due to a lack of pilots or mechanical problems or whatever other excuse was used. Even if a dive op or SAR had dropped a weighted buoy that afternoon, unless it was enormous how would SAR spot it 24+ hours later by the time something could get in the air? Searching for it would prove as difficult as searching for a person. Maybe if it had a bright strobe attached that could help locate it at night and would be helpful but it becomes a very big ocean to search as hours pass due to the movement of the currents. I think about 72 hours later the possible drift patterns open up a search area almost the size of Texas... Flying across the state of Texas looking for something the size of a soccer ball isn't a good plan.

I still say the best course of action is to deploy an EPIRB as soon as a local 1 hour search or so does not locate the person. This could be a diver, snorkeler, or even someone swimming that went missing. Wherever that EPIRB floats it is broadcasting its pings to the satellites that are recording and relaying its location. Most EPIRBS broadcast 2 signals - one the satellites pick up that determine the general location of it via the Doppler effect and a 401 homing frequency SAR can pick up and fly to once they are within the general area identified by the satellites. Newer and more expensive EPIRBs have onboard GPS that broadcasts the exact Lat/Lon location to the Satellites. I truly believe if dive ops or SAR followed this practice as soon a 1-2 hour search does not locate the person, then, for up to 48-72 hours SAR is going to have a very good idea of where to search as the person floating should be in close proximity to the floating EPIRB as they are being carried in the same currents and generally subjected to the same surface wind conditions. No more screwing around with estimated current speeds and charts, wind calculations, etc. etc.

I would like to know if the U.S. Coast Guard would involve its assets in a search down by Mexico or if they are restricted or limited to SAR within a certain distance from US shores (after all, they are called the U.S. Coast Guard and it is not their duty to perform SAR off the coast of a foreign nation even for a U.S. citizen). I assume they are limited and that means rescue relies on the assets Mexico has to deploy which in this instance obviously demonstrated they are slow to mobilize, with undependable assets and pilots.

I spoke with a friend in Coz who informed me the dive community has and will continue to bring attention to how this was handled early on by Mexican SAR and hopefully something positive will come out of this incident... Like maybe Mexico SAR gets it assets in working order, has pilots on hand, and can react with a much faster response time. What would happen if a cruise ship sank quickly off the coast, 1000's of passengers and crew went in the water and it took Mexican SAR over a day to get a helicopter to the scene? Something tells me it would be an international horror story for Mexican authorities that would draw worldwide criticism but 1 diver disappearing... oh well... just another diver lost nothing to worry about. BUT Cameron's incident has made the news in a pretty big way and has drawn attention to their obvious SAR inadequacies. I was pleased to hear the governor of Q Roo contributed his private helicopter to the search and tried to make up for national inadequacies out of his control as best he could.

I apologize for this rant but if Cameron isn't rescued something positive needs to come of this that can save the lives of others who could be lost and floating at sea.