Tourist, Left Behind On Fiji Dive Trip, Swims 12 Hours For Land

[wilde100]

I disagree. Ultimately a diver should be responsible (and therefore take the blame) for his own safety and his buddy's.

That Mr. Holz ran out of air, did not have signaling devices(?) says alot about how divers expect operators to take care of everything for them.

Sharing the blame would be charitable, but I still believe divers should do everything to ensure their own safety.

 

[DandyDon]

I disagree. Ultimately a diver should be responsible (and therefore take the blame) for his own safety and his buddy's.

That Mr. Holz ran out of air, did not have signaling devices(?) says alot about how divers expect operators to take care of everything for them.

Sharing the blame would be charitable, but I still believe divers should do everything to ensure their own safety.

Yes and no. Not a black and white subject. Both should do all they can.

But what about the charters that cater to backpack divers? There are some devices that the boat could more easily own and loan out than the diver owning one each.

 

[wilde100]

I think we're mostly on the same page Dandy. But my earlier reply was also referring to dive experience and dive planning (besides the gear).

I wanted to emphasize the point that if a diver is not experienced to dive in current @ night (as this case), or doesn't think he knows enough about how to get back on the boat during or after the dive, he should have found out before getting in the water or not done the dive at all.

Sure some responsibility falls on the shoulder of the operator to make a proper evaluation by asking some standard questions... a newb diver can't ask the right questions if he doesn't know what to ask can he.

 

[scubadiver888]

Just to point out that in this case having a buddy wouldn't of helped. There would of been two lost divers. The blame lies with the captain of the boat and the dive plan.

My .02
Jack

I think there is some question about how the captain of the boat lost the divers but I'm not willing to say the blame lies with the captain.

I'm wondering, how experienced were the divers. I have always wanted to go to Tahiti. A few years ago I looked at what the dive conditions are like and realized I was not prepared to dive there. I've been taking the time to learn drift diving, getting in better shape, etc. Was this the first drift dive for these tourists? Did they mislead the dive operator that they were more skilled just so they could go on the dive?

Drift dive, strong current, night dive. A lot to deal with if you are a novice diver.

Did they stay as a group? If the current is heading north, the group goes slightly east and one diver goes slightly west, which bubbles does the boat follow? Won't it have been worse for the boat to save one diver and lose three?

I would suspect the boat captain did the best of a bad situation. Once the divers are in the water it is hard for the boat captain to deal with problems. Who was responsible for the dive briefing? If it was the captain then I would be looking more at the captain. During the briefing, did everyone have a SMB? Where log books checked? Did they emphasize how important it was the group stay together? Why did they wait until everyone was out of air before they thumbed the dive? I would have expected the briefing to cover when the dive was to end, i.e. surface with 500 PSI. Dive should last XX minutes. If you are running out of air, go a little shallow to extend bottom time. Or was the problem that the other three divers went shallow and the current was faster so the fourth diver got left behind?

Why didn't the fourth diver's buddy stay with him?

What little information there is on this story leaves some questions unanswered. The most likely answer to those questions hint at inexperienced divers. Was the dive operator aware of the inexperience? Did they have a bad feeling but didn't call the dive because they didn't want to lose the money? Who made the call to do the dive? Or more to the point, did someone have a bad feeling about this dive and didn't call it? If that person was not the boat captain then they are partly to blame as well.

Did no one have a bad feeling and the tourist just convince the dive operator they could handle the dive when they could not? I've seen some really crappy divers who could sell a fridge to an Eskimo. They'd use their sales skills to sell themselves as highly experienced divers.

 

[scubadiver888]

I disagree. Ultimately a diver should be responsible (and therefore take the blame) for his own safety and his buddy's.

That Mr. Holz ran out of air, did not have signaling devices(?) says alot about how divers expect operators to take care of everything for them.

Sharing the blame would be charitable, but I still believe divers should do everything to ensure their own safety.

AGREED! If I have trouble on a dive I blame myself. There is plenty of information out there. Even before I found this board, basic training made me realize there was still more for me to learn. I take the time to understand how to protect myself. I don't rely on a dive master, boat captain, etc. to take care of me.

 

[cdiver2]

I just got back from Taveuni last night. The only information I can give is secondhand. That which was relayed to me by my divemaster who is a good friend of the divemaster involved in the incident. Apparently a group of 6 boat divers went down. I have no idea if any buddy teams where formed. The diver involved, ran low on air after 20 minutes and signaled to the dive master he was heading up. The divemaster acknowledged and watched the diver ascend to the surface. Seeing that the diver was floating at the surface he stayed with the remainder of the group. The divemaster assumed the captain of the boat would see the diver on the surface and pick him up. The diver did not carry a safety tube, signal mirror, or whistle. Actually when the divemaster and the remaining group ascended, the boat was not in view and they apparently had to swim to a nearby resort where the divemaster used a phone to call the boat captain. Once back onboard it was discovered that that captain had not seen nor picked up the first diver and a missing diver search was instituted. It was nearing dark.

Those familiar with the Somosomo Strait will acknowledge the currents can be ripping at times. As it turned out the missing diver was quite lucky as the current pushed him north to south across the narrow portion of the strait and he was pushed into the northwest shore of Tavenui island and discovered at about 2 am.

If this account is true, clearly there is plenty of blame to go around. The good thing is no one died, and hopefully lessons were learned.

Cheers,

imasleeper

You old dog where have you been?

 

[String]

The blame lies with the captain of the boat and the dive plan.

The blame ultimately lies with the diver. Only the diver can decide whether to dive or not. If he wasn't carrying sufficient surface signalling aids that's his fault. If he wasn't happy with the plan he didn't have to dive it - again his fault.
Everyone should be responsible for their own safety and not delegate to someone else.

You wont get on a single charter or club boat in this country without owning your own DSMB.

 

[JackConnick]

The blame ultimately lies with the diver.
Everyone should be responsible for their own safety and not delegate to someone else.

You wont get on a single charter or club boat in this country without owning your own DSMB.

I know of almost no boats that require a DSMB, they might suggest it, but that's all I've seen here on the west coast and Canada. I have seen them required and loaned out in Palau.

I agree that they ultimate responsibility is the diver's for having the necessary gear they are comfortable with. But in this case the boat captain apparently didn't pick up any of the divers! That's a bigger issue.

My point is that a buddy isn't going to necessarily save your bacon. You need to be responsible for yourself and not put that on others. I dive solo a lot as a photographer, I really don't want to be thinking about another diver with the amount of gear I have, and the types of shots I'm taking, a lot of times.

I guess it'd be nice to have backup and someone to talk to as you float along... ;-)

Jack

 

[String]

I know of almost no boats that require a DSMB, they might suggest it, but that's all I've seen here on the west coast and Canada. I have seen them required and loaned out in Palau.

Different places different rules. no DSMB here would 100% guarantee you wont be picked up after the dive so would go missing so you aren't allowed on unless you have one. Regardless of that anyone diving without any form of visual signalling aid its entirely their own fault if they get lost. Boats aren't 100% reliable, neither are currents or anything else - you cant absolutely rely on everything going right.

 

[Hetland]

And I bet there were some sharks infesting the water. Journalists really like that phrase, in English anyway. Wonder what they say in other languages that sounds stupid? :silly:

Yep, seems like all waters with salt in them are "shark infested". The only infestation I've ever seen in the water involved jellyfish....