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The real cause of death here was GREED although it can't be listed officially as such. The owner of this op was pocketing the money he was making and not using it to maintain any part of the business properly. Yet I would bet that he is (or now was) living quite well off spending the proceeds from the business on his personal life failing to cover the expenses of properly running his operation. This happens quite often in the world but is exceptionally bad when the business in question is providing a service that puts it customers in a hostile potentially life threatening environment. This is a truly sad story to hear.
Thanks Michael for all of the information and insight you have given us about this tragedy. You have done a fantastic job under what I am sure were less than completely optimal circumstances. You have brought to light an operation that everyone should be aware of and avoid. You may very well have saved someone else's life in doing so.
That's really funny. Although this is way off topic, I know of 2 people that make money in the dive business personally. I have put 2 houses and $300k of retirement funds into it. The guy wasn't doing his maintenance because he couldn't afford to.
That's really funny. Although this is way off topic, I know of 2 people that make money in the dive business personally. I have put 2 houses and $300k of retirement funds into it. The guy wasn't doing his maintenance because he couldn't afford to.
If he can't afford to do maintenance, then why is he suddenly able to be investing large amounts of money into maintence and improvements now that his operation killed a diver?
Carbon dioxide, elevated but under Australian/New Zealand standards. It was 333 ppm and limit is 480 ppm. Off the top of my head I am not sure what it should be and do not have time at the moment to find this (about to go diving - it is Saturday morning here). It also seems that they did not test the air for oil contamination.
As to profitibility of the dive operation, they charged rates comparable to Australian operations for dives but they only pay dive guides local wages. Therefore, there should have been a good margin. It certainly was enough for the previous operators to make a good living out of it over the previous 20 years. I doubt he is making much now as the largest Australian dive travel agent is no longer offering Aquamarine to divers.
As to legal action against the operator or the guide, remember, this is a second or third world country where 14 members of Parliament were just jailed for corruption. It is also unlikely that there is a law that might be able to be used. There certainly are no workplace health laws.
I would hope they tested for CO. I wonder if the staff/ownership at Aquamarine has changed since this incident. It definitely seems like it would be a fun dive.
I don't think this is necessarily accurate. If she was negatively buoyant she could still be swimming upward. When she became unconscious or stopped swimming, she would drop. You only do the Polaris thing when you are massively positively buoyant or swimming upward really fast.
I was thinking in terms of an inexperienced diver with problems who called a dive early and was eager to exit the wreck ... she's far more likely to be positive than negative on the way up - especially already 7.3m into a vertical ascent.
It was slow though, 7.3m from 40.5m to 33.2m in 92 seconds (based on counting pixels on the profile image) is 1/4 the rate Padi allows so she either wasn't panicking (meaning she HADN'T already panicked and injured herself, meaning she DIDN'T simply pass out at 33m and sink), OR she was having to fight her way up because she couldn't get positive (op valve had crap in it?) and injured herself in the process, her oversized fins falling off and material accumulating under her nails.
Perhaps it's as simple as dumping slightly more than she intended then pressing the deflator instead of the inflator or snagging/pulling a remote dump valve, and panicking Or her BCD was why she called the dive.
To me, if she really signaled that she "couldn't dive anymore" (10 minutes into the dive), then it would seem like the guide would want to make sure to keep an eye on her and stay close as they were turning the dive, since something is probably wrong. Just doesn't make sense.
As far as I know they did not test for CO, but is unlikely to be the cause of this death.
As to her being more likely to be positive than negative, remember, she was over 20 lbs overweighted. A change of 7 metres at this depth is not going to change much at all.
Ownership still the same, guiding staff will still be the same, but I expect less than before due to the drastic drop in business I believe they have had.
Why wouldn't CO poisoning be likely? Weren't they using motor oil in the compressors? Perhaps she thumbed the dive because she started to get a massive headache from CO once she got to depth. Maybe that triggered a panic which would account for the abrasions and ultimately led to her passing out and then drowning.
Carbon monoxide poisoning: The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain and confusion. High levels of CO in the breathing gas can cause loss of consciousness and death
Having dived Coolidge I would never use Aquamarine. I have had some personal interaction with the owner/manager and after that as well as this incident and others mentioned here I will never use them for anything. There are at leats 2 other dive companies in the area that have a good reputation, I will use them.
I was never impressed with their interactions and an analysis of this incident reinforces what I already believe.
We need the guide's profile download! Comparing it to the deceased will tell us volumes. How did the investigating officer miss that? - assuming of course the guide had a dive computer and didn't destroy/lose it...
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Or her BCD was why she called the dive.
