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A very unusual and unfortunate incident but perhaps one reason for not using a snorkel. At 11:37 10/01/97 GMT+2, you wrote: >From: "Paul T. Cooper" <cqedi@ic*.co*.za*> > >Subject: Dry drowning >Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 11:30:40 +0200 > >I would appreciate it if anybody out there could e-mail me some info, any >info on dry drowning. > >My regular dive buddy had the unfortunate experience last week of diving >with his brother, who was on holiday in Cape Town, when his brother >apparently died from dry drowning. >They were diving the wreck of the Antipoulis, which sank in 1977 in the >same incident as the Romelia. The Antipoulis lies off Oudekraal and is in >a very stable position in a relatively wind sheltered bay. Her amidships, >which is where most local divers start their dive from, lies about 100m >offshore. >They snorkeled out to the wreck and when they got to the dive spot stopped >to check that everybody was all right, there were 4 of them including a >NAUI instructor. John however never lifted his head out of the water. His >dive buddy went under water over to him and saw that his mask had water in >it and that he was biting the snorkel with great force. >They flipped John onto his back, dropped his weight-belt and started to get >him back to shore. Ed, his dive buddy, towed him in whilst the instructor >gave him mouth-to-mouth. The 4th diver swam ashore and called dive rescue. > When they got him to shore they performed CPR for about 15 mins before the >rescue team got there. They administered 3 adrenaline injections and >finally got a heartbeat, although there had been none for about 20-25 mins. >The chopper arrived and airlifted him to hospital where he lived on life >support for about 30 hours. Unfortunately he never recovered and never >responded to any further stimuli. The life support systems were switched >off. > >Everybody thought that he had had a stroke, however the autopsy revealed >that he had died from dry drowning, a term which we were unfamiliar with in >the diving/snorkeling context. The doctor said that he must have breathed >in some sea water through his snorkel and the cold water caused his larynx >to go into spasm cutting off his air supply. Within 5 seconds he would >have been unconscious which would have relaxed the spasm allowing him to >breath normally, however he would now be breathing in sea water. According >to the pathologist there is very little you can do in a case of dry >drowning. When the instructor started giving mouth-to-mouth he noted that >John's jaw was almost locked closed. > >I have spoken to a few divers around here and none of them have ever heard >of a diver dying from dry drowning through a snorkel. An instructor who I >know has been diving for 20 years, and used to be a Navy Seal, has also >never come across a case like this. > >Please would anyone who knows anything, or has ever come across a diving >accident like this before, mail me so that you can help us understand what >happened and why it happened. With this info we can possibly help other >divers avoid this type of accident in the future. > >Many thanks > >Paul T. Cooper >cqedi@ic*.co*.za* >Michael Holtzhausen >Tel +27 11 800 4336 >Fax +27 11 800 2779 >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > >
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