Yukon Mishap 9/11/2010

[dirtdiver1]

I was there. I had a 28 minute TTD which included my ascent and a 3 minute stop. The affected diver left surface within 20 seconds of me. I went to 108FSW and then gradually meandered my way to 75FSW at roughly 21 minutes. At this point I started my ascent. I got on the Humboldt with just less than 300psi in my AL 80.

The guy that died was about my age but looked 40 pounds heavier than me. I have every expectation that he sucked air quicker than I did. I heard from one of the other divers on board that the affected diver was seen on the bottom, looking at something in the sand at around 8 minutes of dive time. This vector is where the LG found him later. The bottom was at 110 FSW that day.

We need to know his depth profile but if I had to bet money, today, I would say he was out of air by the time I was at my safety stop.

 

[Jax]

No update from the county medical examiner.

County of San Diego: Press Releases

 

[divemaster dave]

Are you sure that was the sequence of events reguarding the Humbolt , that they first returned to the Yukon and then called for help and that was an hour later the RubyE is only about 15 or so minutes away from the Yukon

Where did this alleged hour delay come from? The only mention of an hour that I remember in any of the first hand accounts was the lifeguards saying that the victim had been underwater for an hour.

Yes. Over an hour delay. Not alleged.

From my view and what I got from radio coms that day.

- Humboldt brought divers on board at the Yukon (most of them)
- Humboldt did partial SI at the Yukon
- Humboldt traveled to Ruby (passed other dive boat en route)
- Humboldt completed SI at Ruby (with time at Yukon and Ruby about an hour)
- Humboldt put divers in the water at Ruby E.
- Humboldt found out a diver was missing upon recovering divers at Ruby E and returned to Yukon

 

[Ayisha]

I think some people need to take a step back to understand what others are trying to say. I'm not sure when these threads became about pinpointing an exact cause of death rather than learning from all mistakes made or identifying inadequate existing protocols. Determining whether the departure of the boat with a diver in the water contributed to the cause of death or assigning blame is not as important for our purpose as it is to the investigators.

What is important is that it has come to light *again* that a boat may have left a dive site with a diver still in the water and we need to examine why and how this can be reliably prevented in the future. Previous threads with this theme and elsewhere have determined the necessity for visually verified roll calls rather than headcounts as well as sign in/sign out systems or DAN tags. There is nothing wrong with discussing how to improve current protocols whether it contributed to the unfortunate accident or not.

If the victim had survived, could he have sued the dive op for leaving him at the first dive site as I believe others have? With the victim deceased, why would the family not be able to sue for the same reason? If the dive shop left the dive site without all passengers accounted for and no communications to the coastguard regarding a missing diver, a mistake was made by the dive op, regardless of whether it contributed to the death of the victim. If a mistake is publicly known and we could be affected by a similar mistake in the future, we have the right to talk about it. My 1 cent...

 

[Jax]

Ayisha, I understand what you are saying, but I think the primary reason for these threads is learning lessons whether they stem from the diver's death or the additional considerations. Unfortunately, our culture loves to 'blame'.

I am seeing a lot of people believing that by-name roll call absolutely should be a required safety procedure, but it is not 100%.

I also see that we have a solo diver on what should have been an easy dive (good conditions) that died, and no one knows why. I read that some have "heard" the tank was empty, but no authoritative source.

I would love to learn lessons from the diver's death, but in my own mind and calculations, the unfortunate departure of the boat without roll call is not a contributing factor.

 

[Hetland]

Roll Call: the best methods I've seen are numbered tags (or numbered SMB's) that are clipped to your BC on exit and clipped to a numbered board upon your return.

Seems like a cheap and easy way to avoid a bad situation.

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

You said it Seasaw. I have been through 545 posts to this thread (plus the three threads split off following ego battles) trying to figure out what I should learn to be a safer diver. In the end, there doesn't seem to be that much.

I agree that I would like the boat to be there for me when I surface, but first I do need to surface. The issue is that something happened that prevented the unfortunate diver from surfacing on his own. Sadly we will probably never know what.

I hold that the first responsibility for your safety is with yourself. So for me the learning points include;
- Don't run out of breathing gas (seems obvious, but I have seen it happen).
- Diving solo without a redundant gas supply is not a great idea.
- Diving an unknown environment solo is not a great idea (I cannot say that happened in this case but still a good point from the posts)
- A medical emergency while diving solo is a potentially big problem. A medical emergency while diving with a buddy is also potentially a big problem, but I have a slightly better chance of surviving. (again might not be relevant to this case, but still a good point)
- Panic will make things worse. If I have an emergency and can remain calm I have a better chance of solving the problem. (again relevance in this death - who knows?)
- Plan your dive and let someone know when to expect you back.
- Exercise caution with unknown dive buddies in situations that are expected to be challenging.

Please add your learning points.

 

[Puffer Fish]

You said it Seasaw. I have been through 545 posts to this thread (plus the three threads split off following ego battles) trying to figure out what I should learn to be a safer diver. In the end, there doesn't seem to be that much.

I agree that I would like the boat to be there for me when I surface, but first I do need to surface. The issue is that something happened that prevented the unfortunate diver from surfacing on his own. Sadly we will probably never know what.

I hold that the first responsibility for your safety is with yourself. So for me the learning points include;
- Don't run out of breathing gas (seems obvious, but I have seen it happen).
- Diving solo without a redundant gas supply is not a great idea.
- Diving an unknown environment solo is not a great idea (I cannot say that happened in this case but still a good point from the posts)
- A medical emergency while diving solo is a potentially big problem. A medical emergency while diving with a buddy is also potentially a big problem, but I have a slightly better chance of surviving. (again might not be relevant to this case, but still a good point)
- Panic will make things worse. If I have an emergency and can remain calm I have a better chance of solving the problem. (again relevance in this death - who knows?)
- Plan your dive and let someone know when to expect you back.
- Exercise caution with unknown dive buddies in situations that are expected to be challenging.

Please add your learning points.

Excellent post...several great take aways, and I really like your comment "I agree that I would like the boat to be there for me when I surface, but first I do need to surface."

A very simple point and one that is frequently overlooked.

 

[cruiser]

Please add your learning points.

Make sure a roll call is done after each dive.

 

[Jax]

Phone call to the San Diego Medical Examiner's office today, 13:09 PDT, says the cause and manner of death are still pending. . . .