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Here is additional info thanks to Joe Jackson. There is a real good lesson about weight in this accident. Sam Frushour ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 09 Jul 96 21:34:01 EDT From: JOSEPH P. JACKSON <102251.3215@Co*.CO*> To: samuel frushour <frushour@in*.ed*> Subject: Death at Gilboa Samuel, The dive buddy was sitting on the dock at the deep end. He had been told by the victim that the victim was going to make a long dive and could stay down for a very long time on the amount of air that he was carrying. The dive buddy had tagged along at 80' until his single tank dictated that he return to the dock. When we returned from our dive the buddy expressed his concern. He said it had been about two hours and twenty minutes since he last saw the victim. At that time we searched the surface around the quarry while notifying the life squad and getting everyone organized for a search. Two people searched from a boat, two looked for a reported down line at the point to the left of the deep dock (turned out to belong to another dive group), and everyone else began filling tanks and getting dressed. Four divers searched the deep end, two from the habitat to the dock, and two from the dock to the point. Four minutes into the search the victim was found at the bottom of the wall at 106', below the 80' platform. The divers could only drag the victim as he was very overweighted. They moved him to the rope that comes down from the platform and then ascended to their 10' stop. I went down with another diver to recover the victim. Post mortem rigidity indicated that he had expired and that it was only a recovery. The victim had 800 pounds in his twin 100 aluminum tanks, and both stages appeared to be nearly full but with the small oceanic pressure gauges it was impossible to be exact on the amount. When I tested the regulators they all functioned with the exception that one stage bottle did free flow momentarily. His BC(OMS) was completely inflated as was his dry-suit. Even withthis amount of lift he was too negative to move. The victim had about 16 pounds in a weight belt, ankle weights, and what appeared to be 6 pound weights on each stage bottle (buddy said victim had complained about them floating when near empty). I employed a 100 pound lift bag to bring the victim off of the bottom. He finally became nuetral around 70'. At the surface his tanks were analyzed and in fact he was using tri-mix, which he was certified for in Jan of this year. Pending further information my belief is that he was overweighted. Stage regulators were in place and primary was located next to his mouth. This should dispell the "tox" theory. "Practice Tri-Mix" dive is a great term. He had only dove at Gilboa 3 times this year, and failed to file the required dive plan on this fatal dive. He chose to dive alone. He failed to hook up his second inflator hose. He had lots of new gear (multi-tasking is dangerous); new argon bottle inflator system, butt mounted light, weighted stage bottles, hose wraps holding his LP hose to the BC inflator hose, and a few small items.All of this appeared to be new or had been used very little. Dan, the staff of Gilboa, and all the divers that assisted were exceptional and should be commended. Joe
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