Two dead in KZN diving accident

LazyLion

LazyLion

King of de Jungle
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Messages
107,430
Reaction score
9,944
Location
District 9
Two people died in a diving accident at Umkomaas beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Wednesday, paramedics said.

The victims were a man and woman, believed to be in their 50s, Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann said.

"Despite all efforts to resuscitate both patients there was nothing else paramedics could do for them."

The details and cause of the accident were not known and would be investigated.


Source : Sapa /dm/tk/jje/th
Date : 18 Jun 2014 13:19
 
I have dived there, the launch out of the lagoon can be quite dangerous at times, but the dives themselves arent that bad.
 
Dove there the weekend,other than sand banks sprouting all over the launch/landing area seas were calm and fish friendly
 
Garyvdh said:
Two people died in a diving accident at Umkomaas beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Wednesday, paramedics said.

The victims were a man and woman, believed to be in their 50s, Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann said.

"Despite all efforts to resuscitate both patients there was nothing else paramedics could do for them."

The details and cause of the accident were not known and would be investigated.


Source : Sapa /dm/tk/jje/th
Date : 18 Jun 2014 13:19
Click to expand...

2 people died while diving?

Has to be the tanks. What else could have happened?
 
Pitbull said:
2 people died while diving?

Has to be the tanks. What else could have happened?
Click to expand...

Yeah was wondering the same thing myself.
A diving mate of mine always says "If something serious goes wrong down there then you have the rest of your life to think about it"
Not that that amount of time will be long...
Surely there would have been a big enough team to facilitate running out and they would have taken their stops?
 
Come to think of it Aliwal has some mad currents so maybe they got separated from the group and something happened as a result?
Maybe they surfaced too quickly after that. Could be a few things.
 
“The research vessel phoned me and said there had been an incident and the lady diver had bolted to the surface, and that when she surfaced she was foaming at the mouth. From the research vessel, they put two crewmen on to our dive boat to assist with CPR and then the next diver came up. He was conscious when he came on to the boat but passed away while on the vessel,” she said.
Click to expand...

So it was DCS aka the bends. They possibly came up to the surface too fast. :(
 
ToxicBunny said:
I think thats a given... the question is WHY they did so, when they're both experienced divers.
Click to expand...

I suspect equipment failure on the lady diver, as she popped 1st, and maybe panicked. My one dive buddy in Moz had a similar experience, on the surface all equipment was fine, but when we hit 30m, his BCD failed an inflated to max in seconds, he popped like a cork and there was nothing he could do. Lucky he was cool enough and camne straight down again.
 
Too deep she cried, I see no reason to go deeper than 20m anymore. Deep is dangerous very dangerous.
 
A Friend of mine who is a dive instructor in Madagascar knew him well.
Its pretty sad the whole incident. He was a very experienced diver.
 
What is the minimum depth that bubble sickness can set in?
 
Gerhardva said:
My one dive buddy in Moz had a similar experience, on the surface all equipment was fine, but when we hit 30m, his BCD failed an inflated to max in seconds, he popped like a cork and there was nothing he could do. Lucky he was cool enough and camne straight down again.
Click to expand...

My Wife had her inflator fail too,within 2 seconds she had both her manual dumps open and I disconnected the LPI hose. Unless all the dumps fail you shouldnt pop to the surface ever when you have your wits about you
 
This still smells fishy.

I can agree that he prob got DCS due to trying to help her. I can't see how both would suffer DCS. I think she either had a stroke or seizure underwater. He noticed it and tried to rush her to the top. The DCS would have been excrutiating and I can't see him just topple over and die with no symptoms. Very wierd.
 
Magnum said:
What is the minimum depth that bubble sickness can set in?
Click to expand...

Technically anything sub 5 meters has a risk of DCI (which includes DCS) due to the big initial pressure difference between 1ata(surface) and 2ata(10 meters) - double

It's one of the big motivators for a 3minute safety stop at 5m after any dive - prevent microbubble formulation
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X