fairybasslet
Contributor
My condolences to her friends and family
What happened? South Carolina
- Thread starter PAdiver93
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Trying to understand just exactly what could have gone wrong here to learn from this tragic incident. So far it seems everything was done right.
However, the Coroner was unable to establish COD from an autopsy? Which rules out drowning, which would be obvious. They are sending off tissue for a tox report for more info.
She was not feeling well on the hang line, then went unconcious. This narrows if down to one of a very few specific things (not including any pre-existing medical conditions).
A number of conditions can cause a diver to lose consciousness underwater. Such conditions include, but are not limited to:
high blood carbon dioxide levels (hypercapnia);
oxygen toxicity;
nitrogen narcosis; and
decompression illness;
All of which are exacerbated by depth. Blackout underwater may not be due to a single cause, but may result from a combination of physiological or physical factors.
What about OXTOX?
Diving 32% at 107' is pushing the 111' MOD (with a 1.4pp) - not breaking the rules but nearing a maximum. What would be her cumlative O2 exposure after 2 dives? Anyone recall the total bottom time for each dive?
However, the Coroner was unable to establish COD from an autopsy? Which rules out drowning, which would be obvious. They are sending off tissue for a tox report for more info.
She was not feeling well on the hang line, then went unconcious. This narrows if down to one of a very few specific things (not including any pre-existing medical conditions).
A number of conditions can cause a diver to lose consciousness underwater. Such conditions include, but are not limited to:
high blood carbon dioxide levels (hypercapnia);
oxygen toxicity;
nitrogen narcosis; and
decompression illness;
All of which are exacerbated by depth. Blackout underwater may not be due to a single cause, but may result from a combination of physiological or physical factors.
What about OXTOX?
Diving 32% at 107' is pushing the 111' MOD (with a 1.4pp) - not breaking the rules but nearing a maximum. What would be her cumlative O2 exposure after 2 dives? Anyone recall the total bottom time for each dive?
Beth was a part of our dive family, the Blue Marble Divers, of Hagerstown MD. She had been certified for about 3 years, and was pretty experienced. She was with a Hagerstown Dive Master, a former Navy Seal and 2 other experienced divers from our group. She was in excellent physical condition, just 40 years old. The autopsy was inconclusive. I just returned from the funeral home. I've never seen a larger group of people attend a viewing. Beth was loved, and will be much missed. Keep her family in your prayers.
Keeping a good thought for her and her family.
Jeff
Jeff
gasdvr
Guest
Most sincere condolences to Beth's family and friends.
ScubaExpress
Registered
Our dive shop was out the same day the accident occured. We were experiencing the wrost visibilty conditions we have ever seen Lots of sites off of myrtle beach had 0-5ft of viz. This was occuring from 50 miles out all the way to shore. Water was very green and snotty.
THe Hebe is considered an advanced dive. It is in 110 ft of water and is an WWII wreck site 38 miles offshore. Only those divers that have an advanced c-card and have logged dives deeper than 65ft within the last year should dive on this site.
Our dive boat was at the Goldfinch reef 18 miles from Murrells inlet. Viz was 0. Many divers on board only had a basic certfication. The Captain Jonathan radioed some guys further out to see what the water was like. Report was water was the same.
Vis was so bad the deeper a diver went the darker it got. THe snot was so thick that it was blocking out the sunlight.
Out of 15 divers 10 did free accents and came up away from the boat. THe could not find the lines or the site.
Our group decided to go inshore to the 11 mile since on the way out water looked better. We didnt want to chance divers holding basic certification going deeper.
Water was better but not by much . We had more sunlight beacuse of the shallower site. Once all the divers decended we still had 8-10 divers that did free acents and had to swim back to the boat.. Vis went from a few ft to 0
Several people called our dive shop to see if this was our boat. It was not. One lady was frantic.
We at Scuba Express expressed our condolances to the family of Beth Moore. A very bad day on the water.
After reading several of the post it seem that she died from a AGE .
HEre is a quote from DANs website.
ARTERIAL GAS EMBOLISM
If a diver surfaces without exhaling, air trapped in the lungs expands with ascent and may rupture lung tissue - called pulmonary barotrauma - which releases gas bubbles into the arterial circulation. This distributes them to body tissues in proportion to the blood flow. Since the brain receives the highest proportion of blood flow, it is the main target organ where bubbles may interrupt circulation if they become lodged in small arteries
"The most dramatic presentation of air embolism is the diver who surfaces unconscious and remains so, or the diver who loses consciousness within 10 minutes of surfacing. In these cases, a true medical emergency exists, and rapid evacuation to a treatment facility is paramount".
I wonder if the visabilty was as bad on the Hebe? IF so this may have been a contributing factor to getting AGE.
THe Hebe is considered an advanced dive. It is in 110 ft of water and is an WWII wreck site 38 miles offshore. Only those divers that have an advanced c-card and have logged dives deeper than 65ft within the last year should dive on this site.
Our dive boat was at the Goldfinch reef 18 miles from Murrells inlet. Viz was 0. Many divers on board only had a basic certfication. The Captain Jonathan radioed some guys further out to see what the water was like. Report was water was the same.
Vis was so bad the deeper a diver went the darker it got. THe snot was so thick that it was blocking out the sunlight.
Out of 15 divers 10 did free accents and came up away from the boat. THe could not find the lines or the site.
Our group decided to go inshore to the 11 mile since on the way out water looked better. We didnt want to chance divers holding basic certification going deeper.
Water was better but not by much . We had more sunlight beacuse of the shallower site. Once all the divers decended we still had 8-10 divers that did free acents and had to swim back to the boat.. Vis went from a few ft to 0
Several people called our dive shop to see if this was our boat. It was not. One lady was frantic.
We at Scuba Express expressed our condolances to the family of Beth Moore. A very bad day on the water.
After reading several of the post it seem that she died from a AGE .
HEre is a quote from DANs website.
ARTERIAL GAS EMBOLISM
If a diver surfaces without exhaling, air trapped in the lungs expands with ascent and may rupture lung tissue - called pulmonary barotrauma - which releases gas bubbles into the arterial circulation. This distributes them to body tissues in proportion to the blood flow. Since the brain receives the highest proportion of blood flow, it is the main target organ where bubbles may interrupt circulation if they become lodged in small arteries
"The most dramatic presentation of air embolism is the diver who surfaces unconscious and remains so, or the diver who loses consciousness within 10 minutes of surfacing. In these cases, a true medical emergency exists, and rapid evacuation to a treatment facility is paramount".
I wonder if the visabilty was as bad on the Hebe? IF so this may have been a contributing factor to getting AGE.
WetDawg:
It wouldn't be an Oxygen toxicity hit or Nitrogen Narcosis. Both of those remedy themselves when you come up from depth (unless there is no respiration), and I have never heard of anyone losing consciousness from NN. As she was on the 'hangline' I imagine that was a 15' safety stop station and neither of the above 2 problems would manafest themselves at that depth.
Whatever the cause, it is all speculation at this point. Right now my condolences go out to her family and friends. This has to be devistating for them.
Prayers for Beth, and condolences to her family and friends.valligurl:
I hope that an in-depth investigation will analyze the gas remaining in her tanks. Forty-year old women in good shape don't simply lose consciousness during the ascent...if the dive profile went according to plan then there is a good possibility that something in her breathing mix may have contributed to her distress. While it is simply speculation at this point, contamination in the breathing mix has occurred to a number of divers this year with fatal or near fatal results. Here are the results of a (2005) investigation that begins to shed some light on potential causation. The information is more well-developed elsewhere, but is shared here in this format in the hope that it may prevent someone else from suffering from a contaminated fill:
http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10483
Doc
From what i read the dive went ok until getting back to a safety line at a shallow depth (?). I assume that by "hang line" you mean a rope of some 15-20ft max depth for deco or safety stops? If that is the case i cant see it being anything in the mix. If she did make it shallow then O2 tox,narcosis and even contaminated mix are unlikely to be the cause as ll of these are going to have greater effects at greater pressures.
Im not sure why there is a post about AGE above - has there been a post-mortem that found this to be the cause of death or is it supposition ?
If it is AGE its an elementary breath holding mistake. I cant see how low vis (for that area) could contribute to this.
Im not sure why there is a post about AGE above - has there been a post-mortem that found this to be the cause of death or is it supposition ?
If it is AGE its an elementary breath holding mistake. I cant see how low vis (for that area) could contribute to this.
ScubaExpress
Registered
AGE was a thought since the intial autopsy posted no confirmed conclusion about the cause of death. You would think that it would be detected in autopsy.
We wondered if low viz may have been a factor due to the depth and she may have done a free accent if she could not find the wreck or accent line. She could have accended to fast without knowing she was and unintentionaly done some breath holding.
Merely a suggestion.
Hope they do look into the gas in the tanks. Maybe the answer is there. Were the tanks sent in as well or did that get left out?
We wondered if low viz may have been a factor due to the depth and she may have done a free accent if she could not find the wreck or accent line. She could have accended to fast without knowing she was and unintentionaly done some breath holding.
Merely a suggestion.
Hope they do look into the gas in the tanks. Maybe the answer is there. Were the tanks sent in as well or did that get left out?
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