Death near Waukegan Harbor

[Chris H]

This was cut directly from a post on scubaboard.  I don't know the source, but I do know there was a diving fatality that started with an OOA.

BASIC INFORMATION
THE TWO DIVERS WERE DOWN NEAR 112 FT BELOW THE SURFACE ON A OLD GRAIN BARGE WHEN DIVER NUMBER 1 BEING LOWER RAN OUT OF AIR. DIVER 1 WENT TO DIVER 2 AND BEGAN BUDDY BREATHING. THE AIR RAN OUT ON THE SECOND TANK AND BOTH DIVERS BEGAN A BOUYANT ACSENT TO THE SURFACE. DIVER 1 ASCENDED FASTER TO THE SURFACE. WHEN DIVER 2 MADE IT TO THE SURFACE HE FOUND DIVER 1 UNCONCIOUS, NOT BREATHING AND BLOOD DISCHARGING FROM THE MOUTH. THE DIVER SUMMONED THE DIVE BOAT TO PICK THEM UP AND COMMENCED CPR WITH OXYGEN ASSIST. DIVER 1 WAS PRONOUNCED DECEASED AT THE HOSPITAL, DIVER 2 WAS TAKEN TO HYPERBARIC CHAMBER.

Remember to watch your air consumption.  Think about redundancy, and know your SAC rate.    Ask yourself if you have enough gas in your tanks for you and your buddy to safely get to the surface or the next gas switch.  OOA should never happen.

[scubert]

tragic.

hopefully diver #2 is unharmed from the experience.

[dfreeman]

Chris,

Sound advice.

Use the rule of thirds.    That extra air may be just what you and your buddy need.

Doug

[DiveCaptDean]

tragic......

i think we need to remind ourselves that we should be creating and fllowing and appropriate dive plan as well.

ooa...this is sad

d

[moneysavr]

Yes it is sad,
His name is Steve White  also as
Recman 21 ,he was a guy that loved to dive,Hooked on it you could say,he did dive year round,He was a newer diver not a newbie.
  I had the chance to do about a dozen or so dives with him since the new year,
  Our last dive was the Northener 2- weeks ago, we worked up a dive plan and stuck to it,he was calm guy and had great dive skills,the story has me asking a few questions,as none of us were on the dive its hard to say the whole story=dead men dont talk.
  Yes an air deal was part of it,but I just dont see Steve doing a 100'+ dive on a low tank,I dont see him sucking that much air prior to a deco call,The other diver knows a bit more,The dive charter may too! I just hope that it all gets out ,good or bad so we can all learn from it!
  He leaves two Great kids and a wife also,this is sad.
Brad 

[WIdiver_Paul]

Sad. There's so much I want to scream out loud about but the article speaks for itself. Anyone who doesn't get it after hearing something like that is living in La-La Land. Sometimes it's easy to take for granted an "easy" dive after successfully doing other dives. Sounds like there possibly may have been some equipment malfunction there (freeflow?) on top of other factors. I hope we get some better info sometime in the future.

My condolensces to the family.

[Vtach]

My condolences to the family and his friends, regardless of how/why/what happened, it is still a tragic loss.  As stated already, I hope we get some further details to understand why this happened and learn from it.