Sussex women dies after Bristol Channel dive

[DandyDon]

Woman dies during Lundy diving trip - News - North Devon Gazette

Rescuers try in vain to revive 44-year-old after Saturday afternoon tragedy.
A woman died while on a scuba diving trip at Lundy Island on Saturday, police have said.
The 44-year-old, who police said was from the south east, was pulled unconscious from the water and airlifted to North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple, where she died the following morning.
The experienced diver was with a party of 13 others from Sussex, which had chartered an Ilfracombe dive boat for the trip.
Inspector Roger Bartlett said the incident was not being treated as suspicious and those with the woman had done everything they could to save her.
“They dived in the morning and everything was fine,” he said.
“Three went in for a dive after lunch, she came to the surface in distress and then became unconscious. CPR was administered by the others in the boat but they could not revive her.

“This is a tragic incident, during what was meant to be such a pleasant, enjoyable bank holiday weekend. She was an experienced diver qualified to divemaster standard.
“Her friends did all they possibly could do to save her and are clearly very traumatised by the incident.”
He said according to reports the search and rescue helicopter from RMB Chivenor had been on scene within minutes to airlift the casualty off the boat.
He repeated it was not being treated as suspicious, but that investigations into the actual cause of death were ongoing.
On Sunday police divers went to Lundy to retrieve the diving equipment cut from the woman by her friends as they pulled her from the water for treatment.

 

[iamrushman]

sorry to hear this news........

 

[clownfishsydney]

Sounds like a possible case of scuba divers pulmonary edema (or immersion pulmonary edema).

 

[kaerius]

Sounds like a possible case of scuba divers pulmonary edema (or immersion pulmonary edema).

What makes you think so? The text is so vague that it could be pretty much anything.

What do we know?
*She surfaced in distress.
*She lost consciousness soon after surfacing.
*She was pulled unconscious onto the boat.
*CPR was unsuccessful.
*She died.

This could be anything from panic leading to ascending too fast and getting an embolism, to heart attack, to losing her buddy and being upset because she couldn't find them and getting an aneurysm. Or any number of other issues.

Basically it's too soon to say what happened, we just don't have the information.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Having personally witnessed such an event, and knowing that medical opinion is now believing that many cases of diving deaths previously thought to be drownings, I think it is a reasonable guess.

 

[kaerius]

Having personally witnessed such an event, and knowing that medical opinion is now believing that many cases of diving deaths previously thought to be drownings, I think it is a reasonable guess.

There's too little information, I think you are jumping to conclusions on insufficient evidence, precisely because you've witnessed that event, and it now colours your judgement, you're jumping at shadows. Sure it's a possibility, but there's nothing that indicates it(none of the symptoms are mentioned in the article).

I'm reminded of the saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In this case IPE is the only such incident you've seen, so now you see it everywhere when there's an incident.

PS: Found another article, which stated she was having trouble from early in the dive, and was already unconscious when she surfaced. So there is inconsitency in the reporting as well. Surface unconscious vs became unconscious after surfacing. Nothing more that could help identify what happened.

 

[Inked Medic]

Sounds like a PE. I wonder if she had any flash pulmonary edema ...