Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Why
Do Divers Die
There are many reasons why
divers die in the water. Improper use or care of equipment is one of the
leading causes, and, sadly, one of the easiest to avoid. With today's modern
equipment, faulty gear rarely leads to a diver's death. More likely is a
diver's failure to maintain his/her equipment, carry or wear the right gear, or
assemble the gear properly. Newer divers are most likely to make the errors of
wearing too much weight, having gear obstructing the weight belt, or failing to
perform the EBA when one's life is at stake. Any one of these mistakes, much
less a combination of them, will frequently contribute to diver deaths.
As
concerned divers for our diving friends we need to take it on ourselves if we
see a dangerous situation to tell either the individual and or the dive master
of the dive. Just because we see the problem
does not mean that the diver in question sees the problem. Bring it to their attention that the weight
belt is under their BC strap. Let some
know if you see a mask strap that about to break. Check each other air and gear before jumping into the water. Have a dive plan that both buddies are
comfortable. It is very important that
any diver is comfortable with the dive depth, dive buddy, water conditions, and
their skill level for that dive.
Inexperienced
divers often wear far too much weight. Their buoyancy control may be below par
and they unknowingly kick constantly to keep from sinking. Next time you're
among a dozen divers on a day boat, you will invariably see one or more kicking
like crazy to keep from sinking. Of course, that diver will be the first to run
out of air.
The
best way to avoid problems in the water is to stay calm, panic only insures
that the problem will get worse. Know
your gear and how to use it. Don’t
panic if something goes wrong. You
should know your buddy and his diving habits.
Don’t panic if you are confronted with a new and troubling
situation. Always keep enough air in
you tank at the end of the dive to make it back to the boat, remember if there
is a current on the surface it may not be there on the bottom, so swimming
close to the bottom may be easier than a surface swim. Above all DON’T
PANIC!!
Consider
this 32-year-old inexperienced diver who toted 46 pounds of weight. He ran out
of air after he went to 123 feet for twenty minutes. He refused to buddy breathe,
but did accept his buddy's spare air. However, during his ascent, he panicked
and headed back down, or perhaps sank, never dropping his belt. His body was
recovered later.
When
you're in trouble, you drop your weights to ensure that you will float; that's
why it's important to make sure during your pre-dive check that you can indeed
release your weight belt. This 50-year-old guy, with only five dives, could
not. He ran out of air and became separated from his buddy. Another diver found
him floating beneath the surface, unconscious, and they could not resuscitate
him. He had incorrectly attached his weights so that he couldn't release the
buckle on the weight belt.
A
similar fate befell this 31-year-old certified diver, who made a shore entry
with his buddy. After a long dive, but only to 15 feet, they surfaced and began
to swim to shore. Struggling against a strong current, the decedent sank below
the surface. When they recovered his body a month later, they found he had
unsnapped his weightbelt, but it was caught under the straps of his buoyancy
compensator.
Frequently,
when divers set out to do a brief task, they treat their gear cavalierly. This
65-year-old diver jumped in to retrieve a ladder he had lost in 20 feet of
water. He didn't connect his power inflator to his BC and inadvertently put his
weight belt over his regulator hose. He apparently discovered the problem in
the water, but a strong current swept him away from his boat, he sank, and he
drowned.
Off
Fort Lauderdale, four people on a private boat were ready to dive, so a
38-year-old diver jumped in the water to attach the boat to a buoy. He had yet
to don all his gear, but wore his weight belt, which pulled him down when he
hit the water. When he didn't surface, the other divers went in after him and
pulled him to the surface, but it was too late.
A
46-year-old male was collecting mussels while on scuba, but was not wearing
fins or a wetsuit in 64-degree water. He was found drowned, without his weight
belt, in water shallow enough to kick out of had he been wearing fins.
A
33-year-old male on a large dive boat went down alone to hunt lobsters. When he
didn't return, divers searched and found him drowned in a cavern at 50 feet
with an empty tank. It turned out that his BC would not hold air and that he
had incorrectly attached his first stage to his tank, probably resulting in a
large air leak. While he failed to monitor his air, a buddy would have noticed
the leak and presumably informed him during the dive.
A
43-year-old male with only three post-certification dives entered a lake with
his buddy to spearfish. His buddy became entangled in fishing line, and when he
freed himself, he could not find his dive partner. After searching, he went for
help. Two days later, the dead diver was found entangled in fishing line at 80
feet. He did not have a dive knife and carried his weight in his BC pockets.
A
43-year-old experienced female diver hadn't been diving in eighteen months.
Before her shore entry in rough seas, she complained that the neck dam was too
tight on her dry-quit. She said she was going to skip the dive, but when the
other divers returned they found her floating beneath the surface. An
investigator found that the neck dam was so tight it could have interfered with
her breathing.
Most
experienced divers know that just because a diver sports an advanced
certification doesn't mean he knows how to dive, let alone lead dives. There is
no substitute for experience and maturity. Nonetheless, training agencies
continue to turn turkeys into divemasters if they invest the money and time to
go through a course---brains are not necessarily a criterion.
Take
the case of this 31year-old certified "divemaster" who was now on his
32nd dive. Wearing a dry-quit, he went to 34 feet in a Freshwater lake, where
he had equipment problems and aborted the dive. On the surface, he told his
dive buddy that he was unable to inflate his buoyancy compensator. His buddy
tried to help him to shore, but the decedent slipped beneath the surface and
drowned. He was carrying to much weight, and his low-pressure inflator hose was
not connected to his BC.
When
we look at diving deaths, we usually learn that the official cause is drowning
or embolism or heart attack. However, in many, if not most, of these cases,
panic is the precursor-and perhaps the real cause. A diver runs out of air, but
he could buddy breathe and doesn't; a diver gets low on air and shoots to the
surface only to embolize; a diver gets entangled and could free himself, but he
panics and gets hopelessly entangled.
One
of the more tragic examples of panic comes when a dead diver is found with his
regulator out of his mouth or his mask missing-often a result of panic. In
these pages several years ago, Dr. William P. Morgan noted that anxious individuals
exercising on a treadmill often remove an oxygen face mask if they have the
sensation of suffocating. In studies, some anxious firefighters wearing a
respirator will remove their face mask (their air supply) if they experience
respiratory distress. Rescuers sometimes find dead firefighters with their face
mask removed, although air remains in their tank. Indeed, divers in a panic
about running out of air are frequently seen by their colleagues pulling their
masks off.
Several
DAN cases illustrate the problem:
A
35-year-old inexperienced male diver made a shore entry and a long surface swim
with his buddy. He was having difficulty and swallowing water, so they headed
back to shore on their regulators. However, he continued to struggle and did
not have his regulator in his mouth when the buddy came to his aid. His buddy
pulled him to shore, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
A
52-year-old male with limited diving experience became separated from his
buddies just before ascent from 46 feet. They found him on the bottom with more
than 1000 psi in his tank, but his regulator was out of his mouth, and he
drowned.
A
24-year-old diver with little experience appeared anxious before her quarry
dive. Underwater, she panicked at 25 feet and took her regulator out of her
mouth. Her buddy surfaced to get assistance and returned to find her
unconscious on the bottom. She spent four weeks in intensive care before they
pronounced her brain dead.
A
35-year-old certified diver joined a commercial dive charter. At the beginning
of the dive, his buddy had a problem with his weight belt and returned to the
boat. He continued to dive alone but did not return. They found him drowned on
the bottom, with his regulator out of his mouth. He had nearly a full tank of
air.
A
54-year-old woman with little diving experience was on a wreck in 90 feet of
water. For unknown reasons, she removed her regulator from her mouth while on
the bottom. An instructor helped her to the surface, but she could not be
resuscitated.
A
40-year-old infrequent but experienced diver was with his son when witnesses
observed him having difficulties on the bottom. At one point, he did not have
his regulator in his mouth, and other divers helped him to the surface. He lost
consciousness and was unable to be resuscitated back on the boat.
Keep
this in mind: if you have a difficult time breathing, a sudden chest pain that
frightens you, or any other underwater stressor, don't ever remove your
regulator-ever. Keep breathing, get out of the water, and stay alive to make
another dive.
Back to Safety & Education Page
Posted April 17, 2003
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