Two divers struck, killed - Isla Mujeres, Mexico

[Janie88]

See how this guy holding the spool & once it reaches the surface, you can locked the cord onto one of the spool side holes with double ender to keep it from getting unspooling and staying on tension. Once you lock it you can actually let it go floating in water column if there is no current.

I definitely need someone to review this with me. I've got a reel and SMB but I will be honest I've never deployed it and not sure I would know in a stressful situation. I need to practice. @Kimela maybe you work with me in Roatan on this.

 

[lexvil]

Yeah, but I think the usual approach is a fine to supply money to dependents based on the accused's income. When the British singer was killed in Cozumel while saving her son from a charging boat, they quickly found the lowest-paid deckhand to take the blame.
Excerpting from Kirsty MacColl - Wikipedia

One of the reasons I avoid Mexico, neither a murder/negligence conviction or monetary settlements will bring anyone back but they can be a dire warning to the next idiot.

 

[gamon]

in the video above, when the diver inflates the smb using the LP hose, it doesn't seem that he reconnects it? I guess there's no need since it's the end of the dive. I always thought it would be rather difficult to reconnect the hose while dealing with the reel and smb at the same time.

 

[poseident]

I still can't quite get the scenario of exactly what happened straight in my head.

Four divers were "stacked" on the mooring/descent line. Two of the four ended up in contact with the props. SO, two must have let go of the line. Are those the two who survived (meaning = they avoided getting pulled up by the line)? Or are those the two who were victims (meaning = they were "unmoored" and drifted up/were pulled up)?

I realize that we've gotten some direct information from someone that was part of the incident, and I think there isn't a need to "push" for more information--the incident is obviously still "raw" and troubling the poor fellow who was just witness to this is bad form. But, if anyone eventually gets more info, this is a scenario that's going to have everyone scratching their heads for a while....

The other thing that's bugging me is the frequent mention of "how large the props" on that boat are. From the looks of the design of the boat, I wouldn't think they could be too abnormally large...the boat would have all kinds of other issues. Thoughts?

 

[Belzelbub]

The other thing that's bugging me is the frequent mention of "how large the props" on that boat are. From the looks of the design of the boat, I wouldn't think they could be too abnormally large...the boat would have all kinds of other issues. Thoughts?

It's a fairly large boat and looks to be an inboard. Props on an inboard do tend to be larger than outboards. They are also lower, more forward, and a bit more unobstructed. With an outboard, and most outdrives, the props are behind the lower unit. They can still do plenty of damage, though.

I can only really speculate. Given that the two shallower divers were the ones that survived, I'm guessing that they were more pushed by the hull, where the deeper divers were under the hull, and nothing between them and the props.

 

[poseident]

I suppose perceived size is subject to ones' prior experience (I know, "thank you Capt. Obvious," right?). I thought one of the reports said the boat "backed into the buoy?" That was why I didn't settle on the scenario you laid out. If it was bow-first, then yes, the first two getting pushed away by the hull makes sense. If stern-in, I suppose if someone on board had hooked the buoy and had a good capture, if the boat continued to reverse back over the mooring--and if there was a lot of "play" in the mooring, the first two divers might have been held close to the swim step while the second two (now holding onto a relatively "slack" line) would have ended up, well, where they did.

If the Captain was as bad as the thread implies, I suppose it's possible for all the above to have happened so fast that either A) the divers were REALLY focused on something else and didn't realize the danger that was approaching or B) the divers did realize danger, but chose to (instinctively or otherwise) cling to the line for safety.

Question for the thread...back when I was able to observe divers on a daily basis was the era before smartphones. Computers were common, but people tended to glance at them when needed, then go back to looking elsewhere (buddy, up, down, around, reef, stuff growing on the line, fish swimming by, etc.). We're now living in a world where a large percentage of humans can't seem to look away from their screens for more than a few moments at a time. Do you all see people just staring at their computer all the time these days? During a safety stop or whenever? That seems like a dumb question, but then.....well, people, right?

 

[tursiops]

I have dived C55 a few times and the best scenario my friend and I came up with is that the Scuba III boat backed up to the buoy to offload divers from the dive deck, as many boats do. The same captain has been sited numerous times before for coming in hot and entering dive areas too fast. We speculate he was still turning screws to fight the current, backed up to the buoy to drop his divers and sucked the lower positioned divers on the rope into the props.

I just reread the thread. This is the only post that mentions backing up, and it is labeled as speculation.

I thought one of the reports said the boat "backed into the buoy?"

It was not a report, it was speculation. And it contradicts the only direct eye-witness report.
The rest of you post is thus moot.

 

[Ben Davison]

Does anyone have more information about these deaths. It has not appeared in the American press, there were never names given, the Mexican press has stopped reporting on it....it has disappeared from sight. Post here or email me at bendavison@undercurrent.org

 

[Augustus]

in the video above, when the diver inflates the smb using the LP hose, it doesn't seem that he reconnects it? I guess there's no need since it's the end of the dive. I always thought it would be rather difficult to reconnect the hose while dealing with the reel and smb at the same time.

some divers have two lp one for float other bc. Saves the hassel of disconnect reconnect

 

[gamon]

some divers have two lp one for float other bc

I know but in the video he disconnects the LP hose from the BCD.