BSAC

NDC Diving Incidents Report
2005

Fatalities

October 2004 05/001
Two divers were found unconscious at the bottom of a shotline by other divers. Shetland Coastguard received a call from dive support vessel reporting having two divers on the surface inert and unresponsive, the skipper also stating being unable to bring them aboard alone. Another vessel proceeded to the site, Shetland Coastguard requested launch of Longhope lifeboat. The lifeboat recovered the two divers and continued CPR until met by doctors, ambulances and Coastguard teams at the harbour. Both casualties pronounced dead on scene by doctor. (Coastguard, RNLI & Media reports).
March 2005 05/074
A cave diver failed to return from a solo dive. Other divers later found his body tangled in ropes that were already in place. (Media report).
March 2005 05/041
A diver was engaged in a training course. Whilst entering the water from a beach he became unwell and then collapsed. Resuscitation techniques were applied but the casualty died. Initial reports suggest that the death was due to a heart attack.

April 2005 05/075
A diver became inverted at a depth of 6m and ascended feet first. He spat out his regulator. His buddy tried to replace it and to turn him the right way up. The buddy was pushed away. Another member of the group succeeded in righting the diver and he inflated his BCD. He was towed to the shore and given AV on the way. He was recovered from the water, the emergency services were called and resuscitation techniques were applied using oxygen and an automatic defibrillator. The casualty failed to recover. The cause of death was found to have been through drowning.

May 2005 05/093
Two divers finished a dive to 20m and were recovered into their boat. One of the pair stated that he had lost a delayed SMB and reel on the wreck and wanted to do a 'bounce' dive to recover it. He and his buddy re-entered the water and descended. One of the pair felt a restriction in his regulator because he was running low on air. He signalled to his buddy for air but the buddy indicated that he too was running out. They both surfaced after about 3 min, 20m apart and in distress. One was tangled in a line and out of air so the boat's skipper made for him first and he was recovered into the boat. The boat then moved to the second diver but just as they got to him he disappeared below the surface. An extensive search was conducted involving two lifeboats, a helicopter and other boats. The diver who had been recovered was taken to hospital and treated for shock. The body of the missing diver was found on the seabed six days later.

May 2005 05/095
Three divers conducted a dive in a quarry. They exchanged signals to ascend. One of the three became separated, surfaced, got out of the water and waited for his buddies to surface. Two sets of bubbles were seen but these turned out to be a different pair of divers. Later two rebreather divers found the two missing divers apparently lifeless at a depth of 34m. They were unable to lift the divers so they marked their location with delayed SMBs. The divers were recovered and resuscitation techniques were applied. They were taken to hospital where death was confirmed.

June 2005 05/096
A diver got into difficulties underwater and was brought to the surface. He was recovered into the boat unconscious and resuscitation techniques were applied. The Coastguard was alerted and a nearby warship offered assistance. The diver was recovered onto the warship and from there he was airlifted to hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival. It is thought that he suffered a heart attack whilst underwater. (Media reports).

June 2005 05/102
A group of four divers dived on a wreck at a maximum depth of 60m, all using rebreathers with trimix. Although in the water together they conducted their dives separately. After 60 min, one diver was seen by another to be recovering a porthole. The porthole was later found at the surface under the diver's lifting bag. Three divers surfaced having completed over 150 min decompression on a trapeze. The diver who had been seen with the porthole did not surface and the alarm was raised when he was 15 min overdue. A search was initiated involving two lifeboats, two helicopters, a warship and other vessels. The missing diver was not found.

June 2005 05/135
A diver conducted a dive on a wreck to a maximum depth of 68m using a rebreather. He dived alone although others from his party were in the water at the same time. He was last seen hovering motionless above the wreck. He failed to surface and an extensive search involving aircraft was made. His body has not been recovered.

June 2005 05/136
A diver entered the water alone. His body was later spotted, motionless, at the surface by a passing fisherman. The diver was recovered by a lifeboat but resuscitation attempts failed.

July 2005 05/158
An instructor and two students were engaged in a training course to a maximum depth of 28m. At the end of the dive they were ascending the shotline when one of the trainees showed some distress and grabbed for the second student's octopus regulator. The instructor's mask was displaced and the second student inflated her BCD taking the instructor with her to the surface. The trainee who had the initial problem was seen to slip off the shotline and drop from view. The instructor and student who had surfaced were airlifted to a recompression facility for precautionary treatment. An extensive search was carried out for the missing diver involving two lifeboats, two helicopters and naval and civilian divers but he was not found.



August 2005 05/187
A pair of diver were ascending from a dive to a maximum depth of 29m. During the ascent they became separated and one of the pair failed to surfaced. An extensive search involving aircraft, surface vessels and divers was conducted but the missing diver was not found. (Coastguard & RNLI reports).

August 2005 05/191
Two divers conducted a buddy check, entered the water and commenced their descent. At about 7m the descent rate of one of the divers started to increase. His buddy followed at a slower rated but keeping him in sight. The first diver hit the bottom at a depth of 25m and the second diver settled beside him. The first diver was trying to reconnect his drysuit direct feed hose. He made several unsuccessful attempts and then signalled for his buddy to assist. The buddy also made several unsuccessful attempts to reconnect the hose. Then there was a loud noise and the hose began to thrash around filling the water with bubbles and reducing visibility. The heavy diver was able to signal 'out of air' and he took his buddy's regulator. He was breathing very heavily and the buddy tried to signal to him to calm him and to initiate an ascent. The buddy tried to stop the bubbles by doubling the hose but this did not work. The buddy placed his second regulator in his mouth and took hold of the troubled diver. They started their ascent in a mass of bubbles. Suddenly the troubled diver stopped moving and the pair sank back to the seabed with the buddy being pulled downwards in a position above the other diver. On the seabed the buddy fully inflated his own BCD and they made a rapid ascent to the surface. At the surface the buddy struggled to support the other diver, who was not breathing. He removed both weight harnesses and started to give the casualty AV. He shouted for help and another boat came to assist. The casualty was recovered into the boat. The buddy also got into the boat and he and another diver administered oxygen enriched AV and CPR to the casualty. The Coastguard was alerted and the boat returned to shore. Resuscitation techniques were continuously applied. They were met by a doctor and an ambulance. The casualty was declared to be dead. The buddy was airlifted to a recompression facility for precautionary recompression treatment. He suffered no ill effects.

August 2005 05/203
A diver surfaced alone from a wreck dive with a maximum depth of 30m. He was seen holding on to his SMB and with his face mask removed. As the boat turned to pick him up he sank below the surface and did not reappear. The Coastguard was alerted and an extensive air and sea search was made. Underwater searches were also made using sonar and divers. The missing diver was not found. (Coastguard & RNLI reports).

September 2005 05/214
A rebreather diver completed an 80 min dive to 46m including the following stops; 2 min at 35m, 2 min at 28m, 2 min at 19m, 5 min at 9m and 25 min at 6m. During the ascent he felt sick and had to switch to his bail out regulator so that he could be sick underwater. He got water in his mask and he swallowed this water. He requested help to get back in the boat and was sick again. He drank some tea and vomited again. He complained of feeling unwell. He sat down and breathed enriched air from his rebreather. He then became incoherent and collapsed. The Coastguard was alerted and the diver was placed on oxygen. The diver was airlifted to hospital where he died four days later.

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Abbreviations | Overview | Fatalities | Decompression Incidents | Injury/Illness | Boating &Surface Incidents | Ascent Problems | Technique Problems | Equipment Problems | Miscellaneous Incidents | Overseas Incidents | Numerical &Statistical Analyses