20 replies to this topic

[damselfish]

You MIGHT want to take off your weight belt when you remove your air tank or at least know how to remove it under water! Or make sure you have a buddy that makes sure you HAVE AN AIR TANK ON before you jump! ??? Don't know how this happened! Very sad.
http://www.sandiego6...jnZsoBD9-Q.cspx

(ok so if I screw up the hyperlink it was a Tucson police officer who drowned yesterday with 5 people on board when he slipped off the boat with a weight belt on and no air tank)

Edited by damselfish, 01 October 2009 - 10:16 PM.

[JimG]

There was a fatality off the North Carolina coast about 10 years ago where a guy jumped in with his steel doubles turned off and no air in his wing. He went straight to the bottom (120 feet) where he drowned. A similar fatality occurred at Peacock Springs several years ago. Some guy walked down to the water and proceeded to jump in with his air off. He turned turtle and drowned in about 7 feet of water. His buddy was in the parking lot the whole time, oblivious to what was going on.

It's a pretty basic concept in SCUBA - you need air to dive!

-JimG

[pmarie]

A long-time diver and a friend of mine has told me many stories of these things happening and gave me very stern instructions. "I don't care what the dive op tells you; when you turn your gas on to check it, leave it on. You hit the water negative a lot and I do not want you to be a fatality."

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I feel for his family, very sad.

But I wonder if he hit his head or became incapacitated somehow when he slipped? If I hit the water and was sinking like a rock, I'd find the weight belt & ditch it fast & make my way back to the surface. We're all taught how, from the very beginning of our dive training, and a weight belt is very easy to ditch.

[peterbj7]

There are several issues here. Firstly every diver should be able to get completely out of his rig very rapidly, so if your gear is sinking like a stone there's no need for you to go with it. I don't care how complicated the gear may be - if you can't get out of it unaided very quickly then your configuration is wrong.

But for years now, ever since I experienced a "helpful" boat crew member in Key Largo, when diving OC I have breathed from my reg IMMEDIATELY before entering the water, watching my pressure gauge at the same time to make sure it doesn't move.

That said, I know of several CCR divers who have died in similar circumstances to those quoted above, one of them being a good friend of mine. He in particular was incredibly experienced and generally careful. Shows that no matter how good your dive skills, and I'm thinking here of getting out of your gear, you need to practice them from time to time. He didn't and he paid the price.

[WreckWench]

when diving OC (open circuit) I have breathed from my reg IMMEDIATELY before entering the water, watching my pressure gauge at the same time to make sure it doesn't move.

This is single handedly the best advice anyone regardless of skill can follow. ALWAYS check your own air. Do not rely on someone to check it for you. Double check the crew no matter how competent they are AND watch to see if the needle moves when you breathe on it. If it does not the air is on. If it does your air is off or only partially on.

[peterbj7]

I've only just noticed that the deceased was a serving police officer. Given the ongoing training that (I assume) these people get, that makes the accident even more inexplicable, as well of course as being tragic.

[WreckWench]

Sadly we all for a moment become complacent one time or another. I have jumped in without my fins...another dive without my mask. It could have been without my air on. Actually I did jump in without my air on once and I did breathe off it seeing the needle move but unfortunately I was in motion in my jump. KNOWING I had no air I filled my lungs with air to add some bouyancy and was ready to drop the belt if I could not grab back onto the boat. Fortunately I did bounce back up and I was able to grab the back of the boat and get my air turned on.

Yes...it can happen to anyone if you let your gaurd down for just a split second....

[gcbryan]

After reading this article and more details at another board it appears that he was on the second dive of the day off of a chartered boat. He made it up to the surface after the second dive and got tangled up in kelp, panicked, removed his BC, and dropped to the bottom due to overweighting (I guess).

There was some indication that a DM jumped in and tried to help him but he was pushed away (therefore my use of the word panic).

As they say, panic kills. This of course was totally unnecessary. Without the panic, and even with a buddy who perhaps was not around, at most he would have just been stuck in kelp at the surface...no problem.

It's very unfortunately of course.

Some speculated that he wasn't used to cold water, restrictive wetsuits, and kelp and that this contributed to the panic.

I just thought I'd clear up any misconception here that he slipped off the boat with a weight belt and without a BC. That was not the case.

[Dive_Girl]

I am confused. I did not see where the article mentions anything about this diver having his weight belt on. There is a user who posted a comment below the article making a wide sweeping general statement that "Every diver who ever drowned was still wearing his weight belt."

[gcbryan]

I am confused. I did not see where the article mentions anything about this diver having his weight belt on. There is a user who posted a comment below the article making a wide sweeping general statement that "Every diver who ever drowned was still wearing his weight belt."

I agree and don't understand some of the comments/conclusions in this thread based on the article in this thread. There is more info on another board that is now temporarily down for some reason.

This is from http://www.760kfmb.c....asp?S=11244519

(Parts of the article can be discounted...meaning the quotes from the competition however there are more details so here it is including new (to me) info regarding running out of air)

We are learning new information about the death of an Arizona police officer in a scuba diving accident off Sunset Cliffs this week. News 8 has learned, not only did the victim run out of air, but he was diving with a local scuba company that has a long history of boating violations.

Divers searched for an hour Tuesday before they finally found the body of Daniel Forchione, 46, off Sunset Cliffs in 65 feet of water. His weight belt was still around his waist, according to lifeguards.

Forchione was over weighted and surfaced in a panic when he ran out of air, San Diego lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma said. "We do know he was out of air and his buoyancy compensator was released. With his over weight and being tangled in the kelp, he sank to the bottom," Lerma told News 8.

Forchione is survived by his wife and 8-month-old daughter.

He was diving off a vessel named the D&D II, one of three boats currently operated by Dive Connections, Inc. out of Mission Bay. News 8 has learned the company was involved in another fatal dive four years ago, while under different management.

"In June of 2005, there was a fatal accident involving a diver on the (sunken wreck) Yukon. There was also an incident at Dog Beach when a vessel went aground," said Lerma.

Photos obtained by News 8 show the same Dive Connections boat, D&D II, beached on Dog Beach in Ocean Beach at night in October of last year. Thirteen passengers reportedly escaped unharmed.

"The captain was very new and he took the vessel and missed the channel and ended up on Dog Beach," Lerma recalled.

Online records from the U.S. Coast Guard show a long history of mechanical and safety violations on various Dive Connections boats. There was worn out equipment, failure to keep training logs, along with rudder and steering problems to name just a few of the deficiencies .

Coast Guard incident reports over the past five years detail medical problems with divers surfacing in distress, coughing up blood, running out of air, and having to be air lifted to local hospitals.

Dive Connections owner Richard Sillanpa, 52, told News 8 he's been a shareholder in the company since 2004 and started managing dive operations a year ago. He did not want to answer News 8's questions on camera and closed the door when a producer approached his office on Mission Bay.

County court records also show a series of lawsuits filed by co-owners of Dive Connections in recent years claiming ownership of stock shares.

For others working in the dive industry, this latest scuba fatality comes as no surprise.

"I knew it was going to happen and can't believe it didn't happen sooner. That's what when through my mind," Ryan Wilbarger of Waterhorse Charters told News 8.

Wilbarger runs a dive operation that competes with Dive Connections for customers. He says he's heard horror stories from passengers who went scuba diving off Dive Connections boats.

"They run up on Dog Beach. They run out of fuel at the Coronado (Islands). You name it, they've done it," Wilbarger said.

Lifeguards say you can't always blame the dive boat operator for accidents that happen underwater, however. That's because the dive master on board frequently stays on the boat and only supervises dives from above.

In this case, the San Diego Police Department's Harbor Unit is still investigating. No criminal charges have been filed.

[dustbowl diver]

Sad news! Thoughts to the family and friends!

Thanks for the advice!!

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I am confused. I did not see where the article mentions anything about this diver having his weight belt on. There is a user who posted a comment below the article making a wide sweeping general statement that "Every diver who ever drowned was still wearing his weight belt."

I agree and don't understand some of the comments/conclusions in this thread based on the article in this thread.

It's a fair assumption that he was weighted somehow. With the amount of neoprene you have to wear in those waters for thermal protection, it would be physically impossible to just "slip beneath the surface" without lead (or some other heavy gear, which was already removed).

However the accident really happened, posts like these are typically a learning tool or lesson on boards like these. Any discussion that can help another avoid a similar outcome is a good thing. Just my 2psi!

[damselfish]

Well the original article I posted disappeared. Anyhow, the few articles at first release the day it happened said he was found at 65 ft with a weight belt and no tank. Whatever happened I don't know. Wonder where his buddy was. Too bad. - D

[WreckWench]

Well the original article I posted disappeared. Anyhow, the few articles at first release the day it happened said he was found at 65 ft with a weight belt and no tank. Whatever happened I don't know. Wonder where his buddy was. Too bad. - D

As long as you give full credit to the article and post a link to it...you should be able to ALSO cut and paste the article on our site so that it won't disappear if you like.