Unknown Two dead off Rockport MA

[formernuke]

Police certainly can be lazy but in their defense here, their job is to investigate crime. Once there is no crime discovered the cause of death is out of their mandate. Maybe the medical examiner could figure it out but again, given scarce resources unless the family is requesting it I'm not sure there's a ton of interest by the general tax-paying public to get to the bottom of an accident in a very niche sport.

This

 

[CT-Rich]

Police certainly can be lazy but in their defense here, their job is to investigate crime. Once there is no crime discovered the cause of death is out of their mandate. Maybe the medical examiner could figure it out but again, given scarce resources unless the family is requesting it I'm not sure there's a ton of interest by the general tax-paying public to get to the bottom of an accident in a very niche sport.

These deaths would most likely be civil matters unless there was evidence of some law being broken. If you ski into a tree, your on vacation, they aren’t doing a huge investigation, unless the family pays for it

 

[Still Kicking]

I think the family's anger (part of grief) is misplaced. They should be questioning why two guys in their mid-70s would go out alone in cold water in equipment that needed "testing," and perhaps to sharpen their rusty skills as well. It's a tragedy, for sure, but it does not appear to be a crime.

 

[CT-Rich]

The questions I would have, since there are no witnesses, how much air did each man have and what did their computer profiles looked like. Assuming they entered the water at the same time, you could get an idea of what went on. Did someone bolt for the surface? An uncontrolled free flow. The water up their is pretty cold by October and a warm water rig could have iced up. Catastrophic failure of a dry suit. I think this might be a good thing to hire an independent investigator for, depending on what you think the outcome might be. If there were a preventable gear failure / defect by a manufacturer or shop. You might want an independent investigation (or a not crappy police report).

 

[Still Kicking]

The questions I would have, since there are no witnesses, how much air did each man have and what did their computer profiles looked like. Assuming they entered the water at the same time, you could get an idea of what went on. Did someone bolt for the surface? An uncontrolled free flow. The water up their is pretty cold by October and a warm water rig could have iced up. Catastrophic failure of a dry suit. I think this might be a good thing to hire an independent investigator for, depending on what you think the outcome might be. If there were a preventable gear failure / defect by a manufacturer or shop. You might want an independent investigation (or a not crappy police report).

The most obvious scenario is one guy has a medical emergency; the other attempts a rescue but the stress/physical exertion precipitates a second medical emergency.

If the family wants to spend a ton of money on independent investigations/autopsies etc. that is their right but it's going to be a difficult and expensive case to prove any third-party liability for the death of two septuagenarians who went out for an ill-advised, unsupervised dive.

My dad died suddenly from a medical emergency in his 70s (not diving) and some people in the family were wondering about an autopsy to determine cause. What's the point? As sad as it was, I took solace from the fact that he passed quickly instead of wasting away in a hospital, which for him would have been hellish way to go.

 

[CT-Rich]

The most obvious scenario is one guy has a medical emergency; the other attempts a rescue but the stress/physical exertion precipitates a second medical emergency.

If the family wants to spend a ton of money on independent investigations/autopsies etc. that is their right but it's going to be a difficult and expensive case to prove any third-party liability for the death of two septuagenarians who went out for an ill-advised, unsupervised dive.

My dad died suddenly from a medical emergency in his 70s (not diving) and some people in the family were wondering about an autopsy to determine cause. What's the point? As sad as it was, I took solace from the fact that he passed quickly instead of wasting away in a hospital, which for him would have been hellish way to go.

If I remember correctly, they were testing equipment. Incorrectly serviced gear or a some third party defect that lead to the deaths would be a valid issue and worth investigating. But it would be a civil matter, not a criminal one. "Unsupervised dives" are what most people in that area do. As I recall, both of these men were experienced in divers and were believed to be competent to make this dive. One or both of them had an issue and it got out of hand.

As a family member, I would be concerned that they found one diver on the beach and never thought to send a boat out to look for the second diver right away. He may have been just off shore alive, but hypothermic. That he could have been at the surface and sequentially drowned because the police in a coastal town that was frequented by divers never thought to launch a boat to see if he was alone is pretty disturbing.

 

[34109411]

 

[Dan]

If I remember correctly, they were testing equipment. Incorrectly serviced gear or a some third party defect that lead to the deaths would be a valid issue and worth investigating. But it would be a civil matter, not a criminal one. "Unsupervised dives" are what most people in that area do. As I recall, both of these men were experienced in divers and were believed to be competent to make this dive. One or both of them had an issue and it got out of hand.

As a family member, I would be concerned that they found one diver on the beach and never thought to send a boat out to look for the second diver right away. He may have been just off shore alive, but hypothermic. That he could have been at the surface and sequentially drowned because the police in a coastal town that was frequented by divers never thought to launch a boat to see if he was alone is pretty disturbing.

Not sure what you mean by “police in a coastal town that was frequented by divers never thought to launch a boat to see if he was alone is pretty disturbing.” From the article posted by @Bubblesong in post #1 “After locating this man, officials say it was discovered that he was one of two men who had been diving in the area earlier in the morning. A search immediately began for the second diver.” The “officials” search “immediately” for the second diver.

 

[Johnoly]

Checked their air?

How many divers actually do that?

Many of us do because we've been burned in the past.
I check EVERY SINGLE tank I dive for both O2 & CO.
@DandyDon !!

 

[John the Pom]

[...]

1. There is no such thing as an "easy" dive. ANY dive can kill you, especially if it involved an out-of-air situation. When you start the dive thinking it's "easy," you may be setting yourself up for trouble because you're not anticipating problems and aren't ready to respond if/when they occur.

[...]

That should be pinned to the top of the board in large letters!

I know that it is easy to get complacent about shore dives in 5 or 6m of water, but plenty of people drown in swimming pools in less than 2m of water. The bottom line is: water is a hazard, because we can't breathe it!

As to how two divers can both lose their lives in one incident, well, sadly, multiple fatalities in accidents involving water are all too common - rescuers get into difficulties themselves, or suffer medical events brought on by exertion / stress. The main thing you learn on a Rescue Course is how to help someone without putting your own life at risk.