Tank gas suspected in two deaths - Sri Lanka

[Bob DBF]

I'm just saying...splitting hairs over this with people who don't dive is ridiculous. I could see it if they called it '100% oxygen'. Let's look at it this way, if you polled 1000 people on the street, and asked them 'what do you breath?', they are going to say 'oxygen'. Then, if you ask them whats in a scuba tank (which is what you breath), they'll say 'oxygen' most likely. It's not such a gross mistake.

And if it was some regular schmuck on the street, I agree with you. However, when a college educated journalist, who supposed to be writing the facts, does not bother checking them before writing a story, it bothers me on a broader level than just the confusion over type of gas.

Could be Air, or Nitrox or Trimix. Hence "Breathing Gas" generically to cover it all.

Or Oxygen, since all can be used as a breathing gas dependent on depth.

Every time an article is posted the "look how smart I am" people come out of the woodwork to let everyone know that "haha! Gotcha! Divers don't breath oxygen! They breath (air nitrox trimix)!!! I'm sooooo smart!!"

One reason I don't bother to comment about that mistake here. It only might be relevant dependent on the dive, except that is not usually known either.




Bob

 

[Kevrumbo]

A more gross example then of this mistake:

News media reporting something dramatic like, "Firemen wearing full masks and oxygen tanks rescued the victims just before the building collapsed in flames. . ."

Ask any fire fighter using SCBA about that and they would say, "Yeah sure thing, we walk into a huge ignition source with an oxidizer bomb strapped on our back to rescue victims."

 

[KDAD]

"Firemen wearing full masks and oxygen tanks rescued the victims just before the building collapsed in flames. . ."

Kind of like did the building collapse in flames or did the flames cause the building to collapse ?

 

[Kevrumbo]

Kind of like did the building collapse in flames or did the flames cause the building to collapse ?

Naw . . .kind of like collapse in flames fed by an oxygen tank!

 

[clownfishsydney]

You are forgetting it was written by a person whose first language is not English. Not such a big mistake in that case.

Back to the incident, yes, seems more likely there is some problem with the air for two people to succumb on separate dives.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

Back to the incident, yes, seems more likely there is some problem with the air for two people to succumb on separate dives.

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