What would you have done?

[johnnyseko]

Airlift the victim and let the others finish deco

 

[ciedd]

Agree with nereas....but if was me I would not blow my deco stops. the guy in trouble should have been kept on O2 and a call ahead for support been made while the other 4 were finishing up. Sorry to say this but it is better have 4 (or me) safe and 1 down than to have the risk of 5 down.

I do like the second option - throw the marker and leave a safety diver - if that option is available.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

My first thought is that I do not dive together with CCR divers. Anything can happen to these guys(gals), and therefore it adds uncertainty to an otherwise textbook perfect open circuit deco dive plan.

(Emphasis Added)

Just so I am clear, your perspective is that "anything" can only happen to CCR divers?

Jeff

 

[nereas]

(Emphasis Added)

Just so I am clear, your perspective is that "anything" can only happen to CCR divers?

Jeff

Indeed, your command of the English language is apparently quite astute.

I am referring of course to the intricate electronic sensors associated with a CCR rig.

Too many times, even recently, CCR divers have unexplainedly lost consciousness.

My explanation is failure of the intricate equipment.

With open circuit gear, your gas is premixed, and you know what you are breathing, at all times. And that is a big difference when compared with CCR.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

nereas,

The fact is, 'anything' can happen to any diver at any time.

We don't know the specifics of why the CCR diver in the OP's story drifted off and was found unconcious --so it would only be speculation that it had anything to do with his equipment.

The electronics associated with CCR are a bit more complex, true. Of course, there are CCRs, such as the KISS rebreathers that are essentially manual, dramatically reducing the chances of a problem. As we don't know what kind of CCRs the divers were using, again, we can't draw any conclusions.

When looking at CCR incidents, it is important to remove the accidents that occured because someone untrained got their hands on a rebreather and decided to 'take if for a spin.' And as with all accidents involving someone wearing scuba gear, it is necessary to delete the incidents that were not truly scuba/ccr related.

CCR divers are usually diving more complex technical profiles, but with less required DECO. All that needs to be balanced when comparing CCR and OC diving safety.

As to the original OPs questions: the divers on DECO should not have been required to cut their deco short; nor should they have been left. As I mentioned above, we don't have all the facts so we really don't know if there were other boats nearby. Was it getting dark; was there a storm moving in?

We also don't know if there was any air evacuation capability. So, with all those holes in our knowledge, I would have to conclude that endangering four other divers, either by cutting their deco or leaving them in the water without a boat nearby was not an appropriate course of action.

Jeff

 

[nereas]

...As to the original OPs questions: the divers on DECO should not have been required to cut their deco short; nor should they have been left. As I mentioned above, we don't have all the facts so we really don't know if there were other boats nearby. Was it getting dark; was there a storm moving in?

We also don't know if there was any air evacuation capability. So, with all those holes in our knowledge, I would have to conclude that endangering four other divers, either by cutting their deco or leaving them in the water without a boat nearby was not an appropriate course of action.

Jeff

I completely agree with this part.

 

[nereas]

nereas,

The fact is, 'anything' can happen to any diver at any time.

We don't know the specifics of why the CCR diver in the OP's story drifted off and was found unconcious --so it would only be speculation that it had anything to do with his equipment.

The electronics associated with CCR are a bit more complex, true. Of course, there are CCRs, such as the KISS rebreathers that are essentially manual, dramatically reducing the chances of a problem. As we don't know what kind of CCRs the divers were using, again, we can't draw any conclusions.

When looking at CCR incidents, it is important to remove the accidents that occured because someone untrained got their hands on a rebreather and decided to 'take if for a spin.' And as with all accidents involving someone wearing scuba gear, it is necessary to delete the incidents that were not truly scuba/ccr related.

CCR divers are usually diving more complex technical profiles, but with less required DECO. All that needs to be balanced when comparing CCR and OC diving safety.

...

Jeff

This is the part I myself have problems with.

This is what is always said anytime someone with a CCR dies or gets into trouble.

I have heard it too many times already.

This is also why you need to have safety divers who are on open circuit assigned to watch over CCR divers on a technical mission.

And whether or not to choose CCR equipment as appropriate to the mission (filming or else extremely deep 400+ fsw dives) should be made conservatively.

Just my own personal view.

 

[Mako Mark]

without more details it is a hard call, but I would tend to the safety of the group rather than the individual. the OP stated that they only had a few minutes of obligation left and that the victim was on O2. Nothing mentioned on helicopter evacuation availablity.

I would never leave divers in the water on deco even with a safety diver, that is just lunacy and negligent. The boat has a duty of care to all on board, not just the victim.

 

[BarryNL]

As they say, there are no hard and fast rules, only hard choices.

I would think though that the best option in this case would be for the boat to leave with the injured diver and then go back or send another boat to pick up the divers still in the water. Of course, I'm not familiar with the dive site so this may or may not have been a reasonable option.

As another poster mentioned, carrying a marker raft which could be deployed would make this option more practicable.

 

[mislav]

...we don't have all the facts so we really don't know if there were other boats nearby. Was it getting dark; was there a storm moving in?

We also don't know if there was any air evacuation capability...

They said there were no boats in the area, but even so, the nearest boat would have been 30-45 minutes away max. Their dive started at 17:30, so if we assume it lasted an hour it wouldn't get dark for the next two hours. There was no storm moving in. Lastly, there was no air evacuation capability.

Agree with nereas....but if was me I would not blow my deco stops. the guy in trouble should have been kept on O2 and a call ahead for support been made while the other 4 were finishing up. Sorry to say this but it is better have 4 (or me) safe and 1 down than to have the risk of 5 down.

I do like the second option - throw the marker and leave a safety diver - if that option is available.

As they say, there are no hard and fast rules, only hard choices.

I would think though that the best option in this case would be for the boat to leave with the injured diver and then go back or send another boat to pick up the divers still in the water. Of course, I'm not familiar with the dive site so this may or may not have been a reasonable option.

As another poster mentioned, carrying a marker raft which could be deployed would make this option more practicable.

I agree with you guys. That's what I would have done.