Six Divers Trapped on Sea Bottom

[Tricia]

gulfnews : Six divers dead after sunken ship's chamber runs out of oxygen

Still not very clear, but it sounds like they lost them. So sad, RIP fellow divers.

 

[Searcaigh]

CO2 build up would have probably killed them before their O2 supply ran out as the scrubbers on the sunken vessel would have stopped working.

 

[Akimbo]

CO2 build up would have probably killed them before their O2 supply ran out as the scrubbers on the sunken vessel would have stopped working.

If they were in Saturation on HeO2 and in shallower water than they were pressurized to, hypothermia would probably kill them first. A shirt-sleeve comfortable temperature at say 300' is around 88° F and they will quickly start to shiver at 80° F. About 50% of your heat lose is through respiration so the core temperature drops very quickly.

They would drown if the diving vessel was in their operational area because the saturation holding depth is shallower than the lockout/working depth. If that was the case, the hatches would open and flood the chambers before the ship settled on the bottom. Purpose-built diving support vessels operating in the North Sea and some other areas require a hyperbaric lifeboat. Unfortunately, they require support people to launch and it sounds like there wasn’t time for that even if they had one onboard.

In any case, blacking out from high CO2 is miserable and panic-inducing. Hypoxic blackout with normal CO2 is essentially symptom free beyond loss of consciousness.

There is a remote chance they could have kept CO2 down for a while if the bell was mated and they had time for some or all to get in. It wouldn’t have lasted more than 8-12 hours with three people and average onboard emergency battery power, in which case hypothermia would get them.

I hope Scubaboard members Bombay High and Sat Diver weren’t onboard. They do a lot of work in that part of the world. Bombay High was involved in a pretty rough rescue of surface-supplied divers a few months ago.

 

[Akimbo]

Here is a shot of the vessel, not sure if this was her configuration when she capsized. It looks like she was a converted ship of opportunity rather than a purpose-build diving support vessel with moonpool. A deck-mounded sat system is a lot of weight that doesn’t help the vessel’s center of gravity when the seas get nasty.

 

[CuNanoTube]

It makes you wonder what kind of safety regulations if any were being enforced in the area for dive vessels and divers. It is sad to lose 6 people because of shoddy equipment.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

Iran: 8 of 13 trapped divers are dead - Boston.com

Text of article for future reference:

Iran: 8 of 13 trapped divers are dead
By Ali Akbar Dareini
Associated Press / October 23, 2011

TEHRAN, Iran—Eight divers trapped underwater with five others after their support ship sank three days ago in the Persian Gulf have died, Iran's official news agency reported Sunday.

Mohammad Rastad, an official in charge of the rescue operation, said the bodies of the eight divers, six of them Indians, have been recovered. He said there is no word about the fate of the remaining five missing divers.

Out of 73 people on board, 60 were rescued.

He said six bodies were found earlier.

"Bodies of two more divers have been recovered from the depth of 72 meters," IRNA quoted Rastad as saying.

The divers -- seven Indians, five Iranians and one Ukrainian -- were part of a team installing an underwater oil pipeline and were inside a pressurized diving chamber when their Koosha-1 ship sank in the Persian Gulf on Thursday afternoon in stormy seas.

The diving chamber was on board the ship when it sank, and the divers were already inside to avoid having to pressurize and depressurize for their dives.

The Iran-flagged Koosha-1 left Thursday from offshore oil rigs near the underwater South Pars gas field, the largest in the world, shared by both Iran and Qatar. The ship was involved in installing underwater pipelines.

It sank in the Persian Gulf about 15 miles (25 kilometers) off Iran's coast.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I hope Scubaboard members Bombay High and Sat Diver weren’t onboard. They do a lot of work in that part of the world. Bombay High was involved in a pretty rough rescue of surface-supplied divers a few months ago.

Bombay High's member page indicates last activity at 6:56 AM today, so perhaps still breathing.

Sat Diver not active here since the 18th so hoping for the best.

 

[Bombay High]

Akimbo - i am alive and well thank you. I knew 3 of the deceased diver well. 2 of them worked with me as saturation divers in aberdeen.
Sat Diver is there right now. He was not on the vessel when it went down, but has been called in to help with the recovery of the bodies of the divers and the salvage operation.
As far as I know 9 divers are dead. I will post as i get info.
One of the dead divers is a very close friend of sat divers.
BTW, the amazing rescue pulled off earlier this year was by sat diver, although i would love to take credit for it.

 

[Akimbo]

It makes you wonder what kind of safety regulations if any were being enforced in the area for dive vessels and divers. It is sad to lose 6 people because of shoddy equipment.

As tempting as it might be, I don’t think it is fair to condemn any factor(s) without more information. Saturation divers know that they will always be a greater risk than topside crew members in the event of a catastrophic sinking.

In the grand scheme having the ship sink under them, or on top for that matter, is a small concern compared to getting squashed by a heavy load. At this point, this isn’t a diving accident; it is a ship sinking with trapped crew. The most reliable information I have seen is from Bombay High who sadly reported 9 divers among the casualties.

 

[CuNanoTube]

As tempting as it might be, I don’t think it is fair to condemn any factor(s) without more information. Saturation divers know that they will always be a greater risk than topside crew members in the event of a catastrophic sinking.

In the grand scheme having the ship sink under them, or on top for that matter, is a small concern compared to getting squashed by a heavy load. At this point, this isn’t a diving accident; it is a ship sinking with trapped crew. The most reliable information I have seen is from Bombay High who sadly reported 9 divers among the casualties.

Good point. I was just thinking of the diving vessels I have seen with escape bells or whatever they are called. I shall wait for more information before laying judgment.