Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Man dies exploring shipwreck
Buildup of fluid in the lungs
responsible for 57-year-old diver’s death
Bill Henry
Monday,
June 23, 2003 - 08:00
Local
news - A relatively
inexperienced scuba diver has died exploring the wreck of the Arabia off
Tobermory.
A post-mortem Sunday found that David Clarke, 57, of Thames Centre east of
London died Friday when his lungs filled with fluid internally.
The unusual condition, known as pulmonary oedema of submersion, has been
increasingly attracting attention within the diving community, coroner Dr.
George Harpur said Sunday afternoon.
“It’s a phenomenon in which you can acutely develop a problem with too much
fluid in your lungs, not from drowning but from inside the body, kind of an
internal form of drowning,” he said.
Clarke, a certified diver for just two years, his son and several others were
diving from the charter boat The Lark in Fathom Five National Marine Park on
Friday.
He was a fit and active man who had made fewer than 30 dives since
certification. He was in 110 feet of water at about 6 p.m. when he ran into
trouble breathing, Harpur said.
“He wasn’t a terribly experienced diver, but he had been on dives of at least
90 feet in these waters. This was deeper than he’d been before, but he had been
in this kind of water.”
Clarke abandoned his breathing equipment as if it were not working, then discarded
a second device given to him by his diving buddy. There were no obvious signs
of life when he was brought to the surface.
Paramedics were called and arrived at the dive ship on a marine park vessel.
Clarke was taken ashore, where he was later pronounced dead by the coroner.
“While he may have been panicked for a short while, (Clarke) died very
quickly,” said Harpur, a former military diver and an expert in diving
medicine. ”He died of lack of oxygen as a consequence of fluid on the lungs.”
Both discarded breathing units still had an adequate air supply, although an
investigation will look at if they malfunctioned, possibly because of the
extremely cold water, Harpur said.
Harpur said until the investigation is complete, it’s too soon to circulate
information within the diving community which might help avoid similar deaths.
He said it’s unlikely an inquest will be necessary.
“Most of the factors are already recognized and fairly well known,” Harpur
said. “There were factors involved that we have already circulated . . . like
not making your first dive of the season to 33 metres and making sure that when
you do dive to that kind of depth, that you’ve acquired adequate experience
before you get there.”
The depth of the water probably played at least a psychological role, although
the condition which caused the man’s lungs to fill with fluid is not related to
deep water.
“It’s not related to depth at all, it’s related just to being submersed in
water. It’s related to the fact that it’s cold and it’s related to the fact
that you’re a male over the age of 45,” said Harpur, a master diving instructor
and medical advisor to several diving associations.
Clarke’s was the third diving death in Ontario this year, the first in
Tobermory. It was also the second recreational diving death. The other was on a
commercial diving site.
Divers make about 25,000 to 30,000 dives each year at Fathom Five National
Park, about half the annual total of several years ago, Harpur said. He did not
know what percentage make deep dives, but said the Arabia is “a very popular
site.”
Two divers died last year near Tobermory. Novice diver Scott Jamieson, 33, of
Kitchener died almost exactly a year ago. His body was found on the deck of the
wreck of the Forest City.
Michel Guerin, 42, of Pickering died in mid-May while diving off Lighthouse
Point in Fathom Five Park.
Pulmonary
Edema of Diving
Diving
Tobermory, Ontario
Posted June 23, 2003