Twelve divers missing in Red Sea

[vjongene]

It seems that all information likely to become public regarding this incident has now come out. Maybe time to try to figure out what really happened, and how it could realistically have been prevented. I have a personal interest in this, having been a guest on the same boat, doing the same cruise, a year ago.

It seems to me that two errors were made that led the divers to be separated from their boat:

1) The DM leading the group was relatively new to the boat, and may not have had much experience with conditions at the Brothers, which are quite different from Red Sea coastal reefs. There was a strong current on the morning of the dive, flowing to the south or southeast, away from the reef. Under these conditions, it was foolish to move into the blue, as the group apparently did. The DM should have told the group to stay close to the reef and out of the current, as apparently the German group from the Thunderbird did. While it is common practice to start a dive in the blue looking for pelagics, on this day it was NOT a good idea.

2) The rib handlers of the Oyster were not paying sufficient attention to their customers. Given the known hazards of diving the Brothers, it was their duty to stay on the spot and keep an eye on the group's bubbles. Instead, it seems that both ribs returned to the boat to wait for the end of the dive, and did not pay attention to what was going on at the surface. When the group surfaced early because they were being swept away, no one spotted them, in spite of the SMBs they had deployed and the fact that they were not very far from the boat. Here a radical change in operating procedures for the ribs is in order. In short, try to stay above the divers at all times, and be ready to pick them up when they surface, even if after only 15 min. The dive plan was to return to the boat, which is probably why the ribs didn't stick around. But every dive plan can go pear shaped, as it did in this case.

The various remarks about the safety equipment that the divers should have taken, such as DSMBs, Dive Alerts or radio beacons, are IMHO a bit off the mark. If the group has deployed DSMBs as soon as they realized they were swept away by the current instead of when they reached the surface, there is no guarantee that the rib handlers would have seen them, since they weren't watching to begin with. Radio beacons are useful only if rescuers carry equipment to locate them, not a given in Egypt. Dive Alerts may have helped in this case, but only because the group surfaced relatively close to the boat.

I do not want to heap too much blame on the Oyster. In fact, I still believe that it is one of the better operated boats in the Red Sea, in spite of its obvious shortcomings in this recent incident. The boat manager, Amr, is a fine human being, and I am sure that he did everything he could to find the lost divers. It speaks volumes that the entire group decided to resume the cruise under his responsibility. I sincerly hope that he will change SOPs for the ribs as a result of this incident. I am afraid that he will be made into a scapegoat instead.

Finally, I am of course very happy and relieved that no one was injured in any way, and that this all ended up causing no more that discomfort and a big scare to all concerned. Not that I would have liked to be in their place...

 

[grahamsp]

The various remarks about the safety equipment that the divers should have taken, such as DSMBs, Dive Alerts or radio beacons, are IMHO a bit off the mark. If the group has deployed DSMBs as soon as they realized they were swept away by the current instead of when they reached the surface, there is no guarantee that the rib handlers would have seen them, since they weren't watching to begin with. Radio beacons are useful only if rescuers carry equipment to locate them, not a given in Egypt. Dive Alerts may have helped in this case, but only because the group surfaced relatively close to the boat.

The reason you carry safety gear is precisely because, from time to time, people upon whom your live depends do not do what they should have done (as appears to have happened in this case). So I don't think the remarks about DSMB's etc are off the mark especially when it comes to blue water diving.

One other point. The EPIRB's to which my earlier post referred provide a position fix via satellite which can then be relayed through to the relevant SAR authorities. The accuracy of the fix depends upon the class of EPIRB being used. Mine is a Class B but I will be upgrading to the more accurate GPS-fitted Category 2 as soon as the price gets close to reasonable. Go to http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/epirb.htm for more info.

 

[vjongene]

The reason you carry safety gear is precisely because, from time to time, people upon whom your live depends do not do what they should have done (as appears to have happened in this case). So I don't think the remarks about DSMB's etc are off the mark especially when it comes to blue water diving.

What I meant was, if they had been carrying DSMBs and had deployed them from depth, it would not have been much better than carrying SMBs without line, which they did. I do agree that carrying some type of safety sausage while diving blue water should be mandatory. I also agree that deploying a DSMB before surfacing, or even throughout a dive, is good practice when drift diving. The fact is that at present no one I know of does this in the Red Sea.

One other point. The EPIRB's to which my earlier post referred provide a position fix via satellite which can then be relayed through to the relevant SAR authorities. The accuracy of the fix depends upon the class of EPIRB being used. Mine is a Class B but I will be upgrading to the more accurate GPS-fitted Category 2 as soon as the price gets close to reasonable. Go to http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/epirb.htm for more info.

OK. I had not grasped the technical details. I do not think that carrying an EPIRB has become common practice among divers. Equipping DMs with the devices would be an excellent idea.

 

[grahamsp]

I do not think that carrying an EPIRB has become common practice among divers. Equipping DMs with the devices would be an excellent idea.

You are quite right - EPIRB's are not at all common but there again, for most (if not nearly all) dives an EPIRB is probably overkill. For me, a compact safety kit - 30 m reel attached to a DSMB in one pouch plus a small torch/strobe, mirror, whistle, spare knife in a second pouch plus a DiveAlert is more than enough. It sounds a lot but it's not - the two pouches tuck away neatly between back and wing and the reel sits on my right hip. All are now permanent and relatively unobtrusive fixtures on my wing. I never dive without them.

For serious blue water diving, I add a hat and small water bottle in a bag on my left hip with a combo smoke & flame flare and EPIRB in a pressure proof container.

 

[mania]

OK, my friends in Hurghada (Red Sea) did the test of visibility of lift bags.
First I have to pay tribute to them - they are both instructors working with Colona diving Centre.
So they tested:
plastic Scubapro - 1m long, orange - pink color
Halcyon 70 cm, orange
Halcyon 180 cm orange
lift bag 50 liters, yellow

All of them were shot (without changing the zoom) from two distances - 150 and 250 meters. Have a look at the test and then remember that these guys ascenden several hundreds meters from the boat.
so the pictures are in following order:
Scubapro 150 meters
Scubapro 250 meters
Halcyon 70 - 150 meters
Halcyon 70 - 250 meters
Halcyon 180 - 150 meters
Halcyon 180 - 250 meters
Lift bag - 150 meters
Lift bag - 250 meters

Looking at the results of the test I'm not suprised the boat crew didn't see them
The test was done by Dorota Czerny and Wojtek Filip
Mania

 

[String]

Photos dont do justice to the human eye at all.

DSMBs and such are visible from at least 1/2 a mile away possibly further. Thats something we experience every week here and articles have been written by the professional resuce services stating similar. If viewing from an elevated position such as a liveaboard the distance is far bigger again.

Sorry but this so called study has no scientific basis what so ever and seems removed from daily fact.

As for the other comments, its FAR better to deploy immediately than to deploy when you're a mile or so away to maximise chance of detection. If you deploy immediately when leaving the reef the surface cover has a far higher chance of seeing them.
I understand DSMBs arent used as standard in the red sea. I cant imagine why not other than possibly complacency setting in due to the relatively benign conditions experienced there.

 

[vjongene]

The test was done by Dorota Czerny and Wojtek Filip
Mania

Thanks to Dorota and Wojtek for doing the tests, and to Mania for posting them. As String pointed out, photographs do not do justice to what the human eye can see. However, I do think that the point is clear: SMBs will not be seen unless someone is looking for them. They are useful in making divers visible to a rib searching for them, but will probably not be noticed if they come up unexpectedly 200 m from a boat. Which is what happened to the Oyster.

 

[String]

Again id disagree with that having seen them appear further than that off the boat unexpectedly when no divers down at all and none known to be in the area !

The human eye is FAR better than any CCD at picking up colour contrasts and abnormalities in the field of view.

The hardest part sometimes in working out if its a distant DSMB is sometime you get nearer and discover its a pot buoy. You can see them a long way off though.

 

[WVDiver]

Scary situation. Just goes to show that even when you pull out all the stops.............you never really know for sure what could happen. But life is too short dive often.

 

[Mako Mark]

Divernet...
. I was in the 2nd rib where one person got a nose bleed.
"

great posts lecas, I know you have this in quotes, so I am guessing that "I" was not in fact you, do you know which diver posted this first person account?

Hey String, why are you giving Mania a hard time about a non scientific test?? I think that was a very informative set of photos, and although you cant put numbers to it, it certainly makes the yellow bag look better than the red sausages IMO.