Error Two wreck divers dead - Marsascala, Malta

[Nick_Radov]

IWR has its own risks and current thinking is that it is a last ditch effort.
On the other hand, another recollection in this thread says that he chose to just have oxygen on the boat, presumably not to delay transport of the first victim.

Maybe this is just semantics but I don't think we're really talking about "IWR" here. In-water recompression refers to a treatment protocol applied when a diver experiences DCS symptoms after doing some kind of deco and then surfacing. An IWR protocol would look totally different from a regular deco schedule. But if the instructor in this incident had descended again immediately after passing the student to the boat crew then that would just be resuming the deco schedule where he left off.

One option to potentially consider in such a situation is for the boat to leave the rescuer to decompress and rush the victim back to shore. Then return to recover the rescuer, or get another boat to do it. It might seem irresponsible to leave someone alone underwater in the open ocean but most of us who are doing offshore tech dives now have an array of surface signaling devices including some sort of radio so the risk of getting lost at sea has been greatly reduced. The boat crew can also drop a float ball with a weighed line to mark the diver's position and give him a stable reference. If it was me I'd rather roll the dice on that instead of severe DCS.

Of course it's easy to come up with better plans when we're sitting safe and dry at our computers.

 

[Wibble]

A massive dose of “it depends”…. Where are you diving, many other vessels in the vicinity, helicopter availability, lifeboat availability, the runtimes of other divers, sea conditions, tides, etc.

A skipper cannot abandon his other divers. A floating buoy is miniscule compared with the vastness of the sea.


Rule number one applies for all rescues; there should be no more casualties.

 

[boulderjohn]

The attitude toward IWR is changing. Not many years ago, the overall attitude was that it was indeed a last ditch sort of thing, and most experts would have advised sitting on the boat breathing oxygen instead. Today people are more willing to accept an IWR option, but they are going to want to have full support equipment, including if possible full face mask, oxygen, etc.

 

[grantmac]

The attitude toward IWR is changing. Not many years ago, the overall attitude was that it was indeed a last ditch sort of thing, and most experts would have advised sitting on the boat breathing oxygen instead. Today people are more willing to accept an IWR option, but they are going to want to have full support equipment, including if possible full face mask, oxygen, etc.

Do you think that is because IWR is being considered before symptoms get severe and is being done at the minimum depth needed to reduce/eliminate them rather than following a recompression schedule which might include PPO2 above 1.6 which is I believe called for in a chamber?

 

[Steelyeyes]

Maybe this is just semantics but I don't think we're really talking about "IWR" here. In-water recompression refers to a treatment protocol applied when a diver experiences DCS symptoms after doing some kind of deco and then surfacing. An IWR protocol would look totally different from a regular deco schedule. But if the instructor in this incident had descended again immediately after passing the student to the boat crew then that would just be resuming the deco schedule where he left off.

One option to potentially consider in such a situation is for the boat to leave the rescuer to decompress and rush the victim back to shore. Then return to recover the rescuer, or get another boat to do it. It might seem irresponsible to leave someone alone underwater in the open ocean but most of us who are doing offshore tech dives now have an array of surface signaling devices including some sort of radio so the risk of getting lost at sea has been greatly reduced. The boat crew can also drop a float ball with a weighed line to mark the diver's position and give him a stable reference. If it was me I'd rather roll the dice on that instead of severe DCS.

Of course it's easy to come up with better plans when we're sitting safe and dry at our computers.

I was on a boat the apparently did something like this. It was a cattle boat out of Lahaina taking us to the hammerhead dive on Molokai. On board was an older guy with a pretty old rebreather, a large camera and several buoys and a lot of line. Before we got to our dive site they splashed a guy I later decided was Rebreather Bob. I had met him earlier but didn't recognize him in his gear. He didn't talk to anyone on the boat because he wasn't wearing his hearing aids.

We did the first dive, pick up, surface interval, second dive pick up and then motored out to Bob's buoy and waited down current. Bob surfaced and the boat crew assisted getting him and his gear on board. I later learned that he did this dive once or twice a week and was filming sharks at significant depth hooked onto the lava in the current.

 

[admikar]

Maybe this is just semantics but I don't think we're really talking about "IWR" here. In-water recompression refers to a treatment protocol applied when a diver experiences DCS symptoms after doing some kind of deco and then surfacing. An IWR protocol would look totally different from a regular deco schedule. But if the instructor in this incident had descended again immediately after passing the student to the boat crew then that would just be resuming the deco schedule where he left off.

One option to potentially consider in such a situation is for the boat to leave the rescuer to decompress and rush the victim back to shore. Then return to recover the rescuer, or get another boat to do it. It might seem irresponsible to leave someone alone underwater in the open ocean but most of us who are doing offshore tech dives now have an array of surface signaling devices including some sort of radio so the risk of getting lost at sea has been greatly reduced. The boat crew can also drop a float ball with a weighed line to mark the diver's position and give him a stable reference. If it was me I'd rather roll the dice on that instead of severe DCS.

Of course it's easy to come up with better plans when we're sitting safe and dry at our computers.

I agree with you about doing ommited deco, but from operator's point of view that brings additional risks.
Whatever you want to call it, this would probably require someone to stay with the guy, in case problems start happening. Hour of missed deco is not something to just scrub off.

 

[boulderjohn]

Do you think that is because IWR is being considered before symptoms get severe and is being done at the minimum depth needed to reduce/eliminate them rather than following a recompression schedule which might include PPO2 above 1.6 which is I believe called for in a chamber?

There was a highly respected article published 6-7 years ago that supported the use of IWR with the right equipment and under the right circumstances.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Rule number one applies for all rescues; there should be no more casualties.

Sometimes on my vacations I get instabuddies. Many are quite experienced. Sometimes people ask what certs you have.
I just reply Padi Rescue. They ask what did I learn from that. I reply if you are my buddy and you panic I will let you drown first then do the rescue so as not to become another dead diver. The looks I get are priceless from other people on the boat.

 

[Miyaru]

Hyperbaric consultant suspended following death of Polish diver​

Consultant had gone home and left a junior trainee to monitor Bialecki’s recovery

Hyperbaric consultant suspended following death of Polish diver

Consultant had gone home and left a junior trainee to monitor Krzysztof Bialecki

timesofmalta.com

Although it's officially not confirmed, this "consultant" left to watch a soccer match and refused to answer his phone.

 

[runsongas]

why wouldn't he just watch it on his phone instead of leaving?