Error Two wreck divers dead - Marsascala, Malta

[boulderjohn]

The reality that teaching tech, especially the deeper/longer stuff that as an industry we don't talk about enough nor realistically. I can teach trimix MUCH deeper than I (or anyone) can effect a rescue. You are as an instructor a witness at best, an extra victim at worse. Students and many instructors don't grasp that at an intrinsic and visceral level.

This was one of the factors in my decision to retire. I was watching my last trimix student doing an excellent job on his final certification dive at 265 feet. I began to wonder about what would happen if he were suddenly to have some kind of medical issue then, when we had accumulated about an hour and a half of deco--with that ascent time dependent upon our abilities to switch to the deep deco gas, the 70 foot gas, and finally the O2 at the appropriate depths and times. If his medical condition would be any more than the most trivial, there is no way I could pull that off.

But that is not how people outside of that small community would see it. They would be asking why I was unable to perform that rescue, and my age (then 72) would no doubt have been cited as the prime reason for the diver's death.

 

[Wibble]

Not on this very sad thread, but it would be good to discuss in another thread the basic facts that deep diving--or long overhead diving for that matter--is risky and participants have to accept that risks are greater and the outcomes are very much more uncertain. Especially if there's a medical emergency.

 

[wgw04024]

With these facts, I'll admit it, I'm doing my deco.

Edit: There are, two people I would skip my deco for, and only two...

 

[Miyaru]

Hopefully the Maltese justice department has learned from the earlier overturned court cases involving divers.

When you start a technical course, you will read a chapter about the inherent risks of technical diving. If you cannot accept those risks, don't do the course. And the same goes for a technical dive - if you can't accept the risk, don't do the dive.
No matter how well-recognised you are in the diving community, physics / gas laws apply to everyone. Skipping over an hour of deco after a +68m dive is a serious suicide attempt.

Thinking in terms of analysis and learning:

• Part of the dive plan is (or should be) emergency signalling, eg. sending a yellow SMB or 2 SMBs on one line to the surface.
• Adding a safety diver to the group might not be a bad idea. A safety diver could have taken the first diver up.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

What a horrible accident. For the instructor to make the decision to skip that much deco?

Reading about horrible accidents like this and gaining a realistic appreciation for how badly things can go wrong when they do go wrong are why I stopped tech diving. I simply got to a point where the rewards were no longer exceeding the risks for me. Every tech diver needs to be very honest with themselves and their loved ones. Sometimes, it just becomes too much. I know it did for me.

My condolences to the family and friends of these two gentlemen.

 

[LI-er]

Someone forgot the memo that 2 fatalities are never better than one.

 

[admikar]

You have to wonder if Malta's troubling history might be a factor, if not literally in this case but potentially in a future case. For those who don't know, there have been two cases in which Malta prosecuted or attempted to prosecute people (severely so) for failing to make an effective rescue of a diver in distress. One case involved immersion pulmonary edema, which may well have present in this case. If you know the legal authorities where you are diving are likely to prosecute you if a buddy dies, it may well tip the scales in your thinking about the level of risk you are willing to take on a rescue.

A buddy in distress on a deco dive is a serious problem, especially if that buddy is your student. The odds of you making a successful rescue on a dive requiring an hour or two of decompression stops are pretty poor, and if you stay with that diver without those stops, you are risking your life. You know that, but it would be very hard to watch that diver go to the surface alone. It would be even harder knowing that you will be blamed and possibly prosecuted for murder if you do.

It's easy to decide not to follow up while sitting in comfy chair.
Being deep, maybe overworked and probably distressed makes it a lot easier to make wrong choice.

Hopefully the Maltese justice department has learned from the earlier overturned court cases involving divers.

When you start a technical course, you will read a chapter about the inherent risks of technical diving. If you cannot accept those risks, don't do the course. And the same goes for a technical dive - if you can't accept the risk, don't do the dive.
No matter how well-recognised you are in the diving community, physics / gas laws apply to everyone. Skipping over an hour of deco after a +68m dive is a serious suicide attempt.

Thinking in terms of analysis and learning:

• Part of the dive plan is (or should be) emergency signalling, eg. sending a yellow SMB or 2 SMBs on one line to the surface.
• Adding a safety diver to the group might not be a bad idea. A safety diver could have taken the first diver up.

Sadly, we won't know if lessons have been learned since main suspect is dead.
As for not taking the risks, we inherently think all will be fine. Otherwise, life would be a very misserable affair.
Shoulda/woulda/coulda is sort of moot since we don't really know what happened down there.

 

[steinbil]

Adding a safety diver to the group might not be a bad idea. A safety diver could have taken the first diver up.

This is a very interesting point, and it brings me to the following question:

Are there any standards or practice for bringing safety divers on higher level tech training? Do any agencies practice this for hypoxic trimix training?

 

[Wibble]

It's easy to decide not to follow up while sitting in comfy chair.
Being deep, maybe overworked and probably distressed makes it a lot easier to make wrong choice.

Sadly, we won't know if lessons have been learned since main suspect is dead.
As for not taking the risks, we inherently think all will be fine. Otherwise, life would be a very misserable affair.
Shoulda/woulda/coulda is sort of moot since we don't really know what happened down there.

The biggest worry about deep diving with serious decompression obligations is something happening to the kit causing the "chimp brain" to take over from the logical brain. Down there with a couple or more hours of decompression above you is no place for the chimp to start hurling turds around.

Example, suddenly cannot breathe and you swallow water from the loop/whatever causing the chimp to wake (a shock); logical brain follows training and switches over to the reserve system, but it is turned off. Chimp brain goes into overdrive needing enormous effort to control the "flight" reflex. Once the chimp is in control it can be difficult to get it back in the box. The mitigation is practice, practice, practice.

A serious medical emergency cannot be trained for. Lots of things could happen to "anyone"; heart attack, stroke, IPO/E, embolism, aneurism, appendix, even a serious injury .... Goodness knows how you'd deal with this, but there's so many examples where others end up injured as they try to help.

Another is a serious suit flood in cold water. Hyperthermia will result from hours more in the water. Worse still your body will shut down impeding the offgassing and will affect your ability to think.


Alas with such great decompression obligations you have very little choice between certain major life changing DCS or even death, or the affect of the emergency. Not a good choice.

 

[Miyaru]

Adding a safety diver to the group might not be a bad idea. A safety diver could have taken the first diver up.

This is a very interesting point, and it brings me to the following question:

Are there any standards or practice for bringing safety divers on higher level tech training? Do any agencies practice this for hypoxic trimix training?

PADI introduces the concept in the 2nd technical course.

From the Tec45 course material:

Learning Opportunity​

As a Tec 45 Diver, you may be a support diver for more experienced tec divers, or you and your team mates may take turns to support each other. Being a support diver and interacting with more experienced tec divers is a great way to learn, especially if you would like to be a lead diver on similar dives in the future.

Support divers generally stay within no stop limits, if possible, to have maximum flexibility to assist the dive team. On big projects, usually when the lead diver(s) are carrying out an exploration dive, there may be more than one level of support diver. In this case, the team is likely to be quite large with a surface manager to coordinate activities.

• Deep support divers assist the lead divers/exploratory team first, then complete their own decompression.
  
  
• Shallow support divers (the likely role for a Tec 45 Diver) support the deep support divers as they decompress, as well as support the lead divers/exploratory team when they reach shallow enough depths.

Support Diver Roles​

Support divers roles may include

• Checking on decompressing divers to make sure they are okay, have enough gas, etc.
  
  
• Providing full cylinders to divers.
  
  
• Providing divers with other items or hydration, as needed.
  
  
• Taking used cylinders and equipment that is no longer needed.
  
  
• Communicating between teams, such as by reassuring one team that another has returned and is safe.
  
  
• Staying with divers to provide company or be ready to provide assistance.
  
  
• Coordinating with the surface team.

In addition to support divers in the water, teams may have a safety diver that is kitted up at the surface, ready to immediately enter the water in an emergency.