Wes Skiles Noted photographer's death will remain a mystery, medical examiner says

[dumpsterDiver]

Noted photographer's death will remain a mystery, medical examiner says

 

[Jax]

Noted photographer's death will remain a mystery, medical examiner says

Since some people cannot open links at work:

By Eliot Kleinberg Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 1:06 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1, 2010
Posted: 11:50 a.m. Monday, Nov. 1, 2010

Authorities will not be able to determine how world-renowned nature photographer Wes Skiles died this summer off the Boynton Inlet.

After weeks of investigation and toxicology tests, "there was nothing to indicate natural causes or outside forces," Harold Ruslander, chief investigator for the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner said this morning. "All we're going to be able to say is that it was an accidental drowning."

The 53-year-old North Florida-based freelance photographer, a regular and award-winning contributor to National Geographic magazine, was shooting video of researchers working around a reef about 3 miles east of the Boynton Inlet when he signaled to his colleagues that he was going to head to the surface to get more supplies, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said at the time.

Skiles surfaced alone, and a short time later, the other divers found him unconscious on the ocean floor.

They pulled him onto their boat and tried to revive him, but he died later at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

Skiles is survived by his wife, Terri, and children Nathan and Tessa.

A spokeswoman for National Geographic declined to comment.

Calls to Skiles' production company, based in High Springs, near Gainesville, were not immediately returned.

Skiles, a Florida native, was known for his work photographing and videotaping in caves and the deep ocean.

A spokeswoman for National Geographic magazine, whose August issue featured a cover photo by Skiles of Bahamas caves, said at the time that the local assignment he'd been shooting before his death focused on the behavior of high-speed fish off Florida's coast.

Skiles had come originally to shoot the researchers for a "National Geographic Television" documentary, but stayed on his own to continue shooting and observing.

 

[Cave Diver]

I just love this comment on the article:

It sounds like he failed to establish positive buoyancy upon reaching the surface. This is a fairly common error that has lead to many similar drownings. Divers will reach the surface and spit out their regulator and take a breath of air but they forget to inflate their buoyancy device. They will then sink back down, get a mouthful of water, panic and drown. It should be possible to confirm this by checking the depth profile stored in his dive computer.

 

[Jax]

Never mind . . . missed the

 

[HowardE]

I believe Cave Diver's comment is sarcastic.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

From personally speaking with the diver who recovered his body, it is my understanding that the location of his body and the prevailing currents and sloping of a fixed ascent line all indicate that he lost conciousness during the ascent. There were no witnesses, but from a very limited amount of information that I was provided, it appears that he did not make it to the surface.

 

[Jax]

I believe Cave Diver's comment is sarcastic.

And you missed my edit.

 

[spoolin01]

Does anyone know the short list of things that can be ruled out via autopsy and toxicology?

 

[Jax]

Does anyone know the short list of things that can be ruled out via autopsy and toxicology?

Based on an employee's husband: heart attack, embolism, toxic / intoxicating substances, chemical imbalances (blood chemistry), and something else I cannot remember . . .

Furthering the question: can an autopsy rule out oxygen toxicity? Or hypoxica?

 

[TSandM]

Does anybody know, can you download information about ppO2s from the Optima? I'm not familiar with that unit at all.