Three divers die in a cave accident, Punta Iacco, Palinuro Italy Aug. 2016

[Jimbianco]

I steer away from caves, silt, no guideline, rule of thirds getting tossed out the window when something happens...
Is there news concerning whether all 12 divers went into the caves? I can't imagine the chaos and hazard potential taking tourists into such a scenario, and wouldn't follow anyone into a cave for which I wasn't extensively prepared.
Perhaps a tourist went in and when the instructor and his friends saw they went in to get them? It's the only thing that comes to mind to explain this sort of thing. What a terrible event, and ugly way to go.

 

[fsardone]

12 divers went to a wall dive.
3 separated and did not surface. Were found in a cave whose entrance is a 50 meters ...

First body has been recovered.

 

[dreamdive]

Too sad, but not a first. "Many years of experience diving" does NOT make you an expert.

RIP

 

[wgw04024]

Someone commented earlier, but I doubt they'd be at 50m with single tank config, no? Maybe rebreathers?

 

[Storker]

Someone commented earlier, but I doubt they'd be at 50m with single tank config, no?

There's an op that routinely takes OW divers into a cave, on singles, with at most one light per diver. And definitely no line. The entrance to that cave is at 40m. I declined politely, but quite empathically. Several of those who went had worse buoyancy and trim than my son had on his first post-cert dive. Dangling octos on several of them, too.

That was also in Italy.

Maybe rebreathers?

I'd be quite surprised if they were on RBs.

 

[Jimbianco]

Someone commented earlier, but I doubt they'd be at 50m with single tank config, no? Maybe rebreathers?

I've done 180' dives with a single aluminum 80, not much bottom time and a lot of hanging out decompressing for safety. Why would you think rebreather, out of curiosity? I believe 200' was the deepest I went with that config on a wall, with a dive instructor I trusted but wouldn't do it with a random dive buddy.

 

[scubadiver888]

Perhaps a tourist went in and when the instructor and his friends saw they went in to get them? It's the only thing that comes to mind to explain this sort of thing. What a terrible event, and ugly way to go.

I was talking a wreck diver in my area years ago. He used to enter wrecks all the time without a line. He said he had been diving these wrecks for years and knew them like the back of his hand. He NEVER silted out the place. He'd go in, swim around, come back out. Never had an incident and felt very comfortable entering the wrecks without a line. Then one day he entered a wreck and a few students saw him going in without a line. They figured it must be safe so they followed him in. He turned around to leave the wreck and realize the students had totally silted out the wreck. Now he was deep in a wreck, could not see anything and had no line out.

He was lucky. He brought plenty of gas, had a good SAC rate and didn't panic. After a few seconds the students found their way out. After many minutes the silt settled enough he could see the exit.

Maybe this incident in Italy was similar. The divers felt confident in their abilities. They entered the cave knowing they could do so safely. A few inexperienced divers decided to follow THEM. The inexperienced divers silted up the place and these guys got lost.

 

[scubadiver888]

I've done 180' dives with a single aluminum 80, not much bottom time and a lot of hanging out decompressing for safety. Why would you think rebreather, out of curiosity? I believe 200' was the deepest I went with that config on a wall, with a dive instructor I trusted but wouldn't do it with a random dive buddy.

There is a HUGE difference between doing a 180 foot dive in open water on a single AL80 and doing a 180 foot dive into a cave on a single AL80. Entering a cave with depths of 180 feet on a single AL80 just seems crazy to me.

I am not a cave diver but as an experienced diver I assume I'd be diving rule of thirds (one third down, one third up and one third for emergency). Simple math: if I surface at 30 feet per minute it is going to take me 6 minutes to get to the surface. Going that deep I should do a safety stop; let's say 5 minutes. So you are looking at 11 minutes just to get up from the bottom. Rule of thirds means out of 77.4 cu.ft. of air I have under 26 cu.ft. of air for 11 minutes. At depth I'm going to be breathing that down REALLY fast. I'm in a cave, so I'm not just floating to the surface with a greatly reduce SAC rate. I have to swim out of a cave. If I get lost for just a few minutes then I'm going to have to turn around, another few minutes to get back to where I was PLUS the time to get out of the cave.

Bottom line, entering a cave with depths of 180 feet should not be done on a single AL80. I would HOPE they either had more than one tank, a tank larger than AL80 or rebreather.

 

[wgw04024]

I'm going to breakfast, but I'll comment on the comments when I return.

Back, I'm with scubadiver888. Going to that depth with an AL80 is certainly possible, but what is the point? The bottom time and safety margin is so small, it just seems more reckless than aFienything. What kind of bottom time is that exactly anyway..5 mins?

 

[Bratface]

It's very sad that they died. It doesn't matter what level of experience a diver has, if you aren't cave certified, stay out of the cave. So sorry for their family, friends, and the diving community.