Student drowns at last OW training dive (Taiwan, July 31, 2016)

[jphehe]

Student drowns during last OW training dive (Taiwan, July 31, 2016)

Media article (Chinese):
最後一堂潛水課... 女學員溺斃 - 社會 - 自由時報電子報

Summary:
- group of 2 instructors, 2 students, 1 diver
- the drowned student is 34yo female; it was their last OW training dive (shore, North-East Cape of Taiwan)
- the rear instructor somehow did not notice that one student went missing
- when the front instructor finally noticed, they aborted and started looking for her
- victim was found unconscious underwater by a different dive group shortly after
- initial investigation found that her tank was also empty

This is the 3rd recorded fatal incident since 2009 in Taiwan where an instructor LOST a student on a guided dive.

 

[Dan]

Sad to hear this type of accident (lost student) keeps happening.

 

[iamrushman]

bad news...condolences to family and friends......hard lesson for not paying attention.

 

[Dogbowl]

So sad...

2 instructors, 2 students and 1 diver...and yet the rear instructor didn't notice 1 of the students went missing? And her tank was empty? I'm kinda shocked and I have so many questions.

My mother-in-law reads the Taiwanese news daily...I'm gonna get an earful for sure.

 

[Dan]

It sounds like the student got a partially empty tank to begin with or breathing heavily due to nervousness and sucked the air in the tank dry & got shock in her life when she couldn't breathe & passed out. Either case one of the instructors should have checked the initial tank pressure of each student's tanks & the rear instructor should have frequently checked the air capacity status of each students. Heavily breathing diver should become obvious by the amount of bubbles she generated.

Before jumping into the water DM usually goes over the hand signals for half a tank or empty (we consider 50 bar or 750psi is empty). It seems like that didn't happen.

 

[boulderjohn]

Does anyone know the agency involved?

The reason I ask is that if it is PADI, the 4th dive is not supposed to be a guided dive. In the 4th dive, the students are supposed to plan and conduct the dive independently, as if the instructor were not there. The instructor is supposed to be there, of course, watching carefully to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Tragic indeed.

 

[wgw04024]

Sad news. Condolences.

 

[Centrals]

A quick translation:
Two instructors(male and female) + 2 students + one certified diver(friend of the deceased).
The male instructor is leading the dive while the female instructor is at the back.
The male instructor spotted an interesting eel so he turned round to indicate it to his students. It was then he realized one of the diver is missing. So he sent the female instructor and the other student to the surface while he and other diver commenced the searching.
The missing diver was located by another group. She still had pulse when recovered and CPR was immediately carried out but her condition did not improve. Certified death at hospital.
The female instructor said about 15 min into the dive she turned to look at something for 2-3 seconds. When she turned round the "deceased" was gone. The vis was very poor.

I don't understand why anyone would administer CPR when the recipient still has pulse.

 

[Oldbear]

If the vis is "Very Poor" then the instructors need to tighten their "control" of the students. Two Instructors and two students...sounds like if the OW divers were on OW #4 (PADI) then they should have been leading and each instructor could have followed with a hand on their tank. This is similar to other low visibility training dives with OW divers.

Such a shame ... I hate to see anyone lose their lives.