Two divers dead on Aliwal Shoal, South Africa

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

On a tech dive in that particular ocean. Both divers would have had an SMB. I also expect that they would have had support divers on the boat (3rd diver that was mentioned?).

As for a report, if past events in the SA tech comunity are anything to go by then the true facts will be "swept under the rug" by those in the know as the facts can be uncomfortable for the diving community, friends and family.

 

[Ryan Nelson]

So sad, especially if they were recovering an expensive toy. I'm not a tech diver by any means and not to hijack the thread but is this common for tech divers to be contracted to retrieve equipment or other items that are otherwise out of reach?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Tortuga68]

Ryan I'm not familiar with the area in question but for divers with the correct experience, training and equipment/gas, a dive to 58m (as reported) should not be dangerous in and of itself. If they were diving for fun it wouldn't be any less tragic.

 

[ajduplessis]

Tragic. Timm was a big part of the diving community down here. Well respected.

I don't know what went wrong other than the article says it happened on the ascent.


I looked into into a coelacanth dive earlier this year. Eventually, a combination of lack of my skills and discomfort with the dive plan meant this dive is not for me.

I have heard that Timm's "procedures" for ascent on the coelacanth dives could include firing the SMB from depth. You can attach a shorter deployment line and ride the SMB from say 360 ft to your first stop at maybe 200 ft. It's all the safer if you clip your SMB to yourself, then it can't slip out of your hands while you ascend to your first stop. I've also heard stories (urban legends?) of divers pushing their gas limits, breathing down back gas and maybe the stages to almost nothing as part of the plan / dives. I've heard that gas planning was on standard mixes with tables and tried and tested deco stops potentially limiting flexibility. Whether any of this was in play on the fatal dive I have no idea. It certainly was not a coelacanth dive (though another, probably inaccurate, local article mentioned a depth of 330 ft on the fatal dive).

I've also heard that Timm was meticulous in planning. Experienced and chose his buddies with care. Either way, Timm was mentioned with respect at what he had achieved. He knew how to dive and had developed procedures that worked on coelacanth dives.

I really dont understand how you bring urban legends of other divers into this thread and then in the same breath indicate meticulous planning as part of Peter Timm atributes. WTF are you trying to achive?Remove this junk you are posting. If you have nothing else to contribute please piss off!!!!!

You dont know the man, his diving partner(s) or the way in which he conducted dives. Both Peter and Adele was great and skillfull divers. Timm contributed more that any one else on this planet to what we know about Ceolacanths.

He died trying to safe Adele's life, he would have done the same if you were in the water. Correct your ignorance.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

I really dont understand how you bring urban legends of other divers into this thread and then in the same breath indicate meticulous planning as part of Peter Timm atributes. WTF are you trying to achive?Remove this junk you are posting. If you have nothing else to contribute please piss off!!!!!

You dont know the man, his diving partner(s) or the way in which he conducted dives. Both Peter and Adele was great and skillfull divers. Timm contributed more that any one else on this planet to what we know about Ceolacanths.

He died trying to safe Adele's life, he would have done the same if you were in the water. Correct your ignorance.

AJ, my recollection is that you've dived with Peter, so sorry this hurts.

Are you suggesting that diving practices that he condones on his boat couldn't have contributed? I know they are do what works, but still they have some additional risks. Maybe you are right, it was just bad luck.


He is a hero, died to save someone else. Now lets quickly sweep sweep the facts under the rug so we can heal and leave his legacy intact.

Oh, when I looked at the possibility of doing the dive, of course I called and asked to be walked through a typical dive plan step by step, that's how I realised its not for me.

 

[ajduplessis]

If I did not agree how he dives I would not dive with Timm. All you cite is hearsay, have never dived with him but is still full of comment. Correct your ignorance. Karma is a strange thing... Dive safe.

 

[Divescape]

For anyone who is interested there is a local tribute article on his work with coelacanth. The boer and the fossil fish ? a tribute to Peter Timm | News24.

I look forward to a more factual explanation from our tech community once such things as the dive plan, bottom time and assent rates are known. In my limited experience South Africa is more open an honest than many other destinations in this regard.

 

[widget]

Its a terrible tragedy, I knew Peter very well, and have known him for probably over 20 years, and have dived a number of times with him.

He was a very experienced, very conscientious diver and so was Adele

From my understanding the investigation is on going so I believe we just need to wait and hear the outcome. Its natural to speculate, especially because Peter was such a well known figure in the local dive industry, and known by so many, but I am confident the official findings of the investigation will reveal the cause of the tragedy, until then, we need to just wait.

 

[boulderjohn]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Condolence posts were moved to a new thread in the Passings forum: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/passings/485706-peter-timm-adele-stegen.html#post7150930

Please remember that the Accidents and Incidents forum does not allow blamestorming. If you have information that about a procedure that was used on a particular dive that you believe may be problematic, it is permissible to talk about that kind of procedure and why it is problematic. Do not, however, attack an individual who was involved, even if that individual was involved in the use of that particular procedure. For example, you can say it is very dangerous for a boat captain to leave the area while divers are in the water, but it is not permissible to say that the boat captain on this dive should be arrested for leaving the area while divers are in the water.

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[drrich2]

... the lady diver had bolted to the surface, and that when she surfaced she was foaming at the mouth.

Okay, this may be a long shot, but it reminded me a touch of the occasional threads we've seen about Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE). I hadn't thought about this much, but I suppose that's one of the additional hazards of tec. diving; in the event of an unforeseen acute serious medical complication (e.g.: crushing chest pain, respiratory distress), the dangerous of deco. violation with an immediate ascent can be dangerous for both the diver and his/her buddy.

Which raises an important question that might be useful to think about before it happens to somebody else. Let's say you're a trained tec. diver on a very deep technical dive. I'm not talking 120 or 130 feet & you violated your NDL 5 minutes; let's say it's whatever depth and duration to make it (in your mind) not just riskier than you'd prefer, but fairly probably you will suffer harm, perhaps severe, if you ascent without honoring your deco. obligations. Suddenly, you see your dive buddy in evident distress, and head for the surface. You don't have time to grab a fin and hold him/her down, and at this level of training and experience, I'm guessing you might think this isn't dark narc. panic, but probably something medical (if OOGas, they'd have come to you), so they need to get to the surface.

Do you start working your way up but honor your deco. obligations and hope they're 'good enough' and alive when you finally get there?

Do you do a CESA without deco. stops & hope your complications don't add to the problem?

In the Rescue Diver course one of the cardinal rules is don't become a 2nd victim, which diverts resources from aiding the 1st amongst other concerns.

Richard.