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Jeff Hirschman wrote: > > All gases > were mixed and verified in the West Palm Beach Diver's Supply store by Andre > and each > respective diver . I am sure you have the log sheets signed by the divers available for inspection? > > Gear preparation was completed aboard the Minnow without problem, followed > by a dive > briefing. The brief consisted of the dive plan, surface and decompression > plan, and > emergency procedures. Every member of the team fully understood the plan > and executed > it correctly. > > All divers entered the water and descended normally. Bottom conditions were > approximately 1/4 kt north current, 60 ft visibility. A slow drift dive was > started with all > divers remaining in close proximity. During this portion of the dive Mike > was having > difficulty with his buoyancy trim and was kicking vigorously to stay off the > bottom. He > appeared to be struggling, so I went up to him and encouraged him to add > more air to his > buoyancy compensator, then raised the back of his tanks to help shift any > trapped air and > improve his trim. He waved me off and appeared to relax some. I stayed > right next to him > and we continued to drift until we stopped a few moments later to inspect > some concrete > rubble. > > At this time Mike signaled to Andre that he was at his bottom mix turn limit. > (Approximately 15 minutes into the dive.) We then assumed our ascent > positions . I was > on Andre's right, John on his left and Mike on John's left. Andre released > the first liftbag > as planned and we started to ascend. After rising to about 200 fsw, we > started to sink and > Mike appeared to be having trouble adding and/or venting air from his buoyancy > compensator. Andre assisted Mike and we started to go up again and rose to > about 175 > fsw. Mike was still experiencing buoyancy problems and possibly perceived > he was > running out of air. We started to descend again and my view was obscured by > all the > bubbles rising up to my face. Before I could determine were the air was > coming from, we > descended to about 220 fsw. Andre handed me the buoy line to keep it clear > of us while > he devoted his attention to Mike. The liftbag deflated sometime during this > descent. > Andre began to quickly pull it down to use to pull Mike up. John, now too > away far to > assist, had begun his own ascent and I had my first opportunity to get in > front of Mike to > assist him. He was beginning to panic and may have exhausted his bottom > gas. Before I > could get to him with my octopus, Mike began breathing off his travel mix. > Due to the > great depth and high partial pressure of oxygen in the mixture he was now > breathing, his > "central nervous system oxygen toxicity" level was dangerously high as was > the chance of > oxygen induced convulsions. I grabbed Mike by the tank manifold and inflated my > buoyancy compensator (vest) fully to try and drag both Mike and Andre to the > 100 fsw > level where we could more safely handle the problem. We got to > approximately 150 fsw, > when I felt a shudder in my hand. I was hoping Andre was shaking Mike > instead of the > onset of his convulsions. When I looked down Mike was not moving. I now > ran out of > air, stopped swimming and tried to get Andre's attention for air or to > signal him to meet > me up higher. Andre may have been trying to share his own air supply with > Mike, but my > view was blocked. We had now sunk back down to180 fsw at which point I lost > my hold > while trying to get around Mike to Andre. Since my buoyancy compensator was > fully > inflated I could not stay with them. > > While I was trying to control my ascent, I saw John above me and attempted > to join him. > He had his liftbag out and was preparing to inflate it. I caught up to him > but could not stop > my rate of ascent until 80 fsw. I looked down and saw John, he still > appeared fine. I then > began to descend down to my first decompression stop at 100 fsw. While > stabilizing > myself I lost sight of John. > > Since I was now alone, I deployed my liftbag and began my decompression > schedule while > I tried to determine how best to modify it, in view of the problems. I > tried to signal the > boat with my bag while I looked for the others. Later I heard a boat > engine revving at high > RPM. I hoped the others had surfaced and were heading for the beach. After > about 30 > minutes a boat drifted up to me and then moved out of my view. Later I saw > another boat, > that stayed with me. It pulled up on top of me and I then knew it was the > Minnow. I > finished my new decompression schedule and surfaced after 125 minutes. > > Once onboard, I found none of the other divers onboard and briefed the > Captain on the > situation. Captain Cooke told me that Andre's liftbag had come up before > mine, but no > one was with it. There was only about 90 minutes of daylight left, so I > suggested we > request a USCG helicopter and then helped Captain Cooke organize a search > pattern to > find the lost divers. Search conditions were excellent and the sea state > low. The Coast > Guard data marker beacons (DMB) were easily visible on the surface, making the > probability of finding a surfaced diver very high. We searched until 0400 > the next day, > returning only once to refuel. USCG assets joined immediately and searched > through > January 15th and Sheriffs department through January 16th. > > Conclusion: > A search was attempted on the bottom of the accident site on Thursday, > January 15th but > was aborted due to weather conditions. An extensive search was conducted on > the bottom > of the accident site on Saturday, January 17th. The teams consisted of: > 1) RV Ocean Window (561) 252-2526 > 2) Captain Ed Cooke of the SS Minnow with > Trimix Divers: Jeff Hirschman, Renee LaChapelle, and Mike Haverstock > Safety Divers: Major R.T. Keegan, Sergeant G. Webb, and Officer D. Howard > 2nd Support Team: Larry Roth, Pete Winston, Douglas Frederick > > Results of the surface and bottom searches: > There were no discoveries or recoveries made. > > We would like to thank the following groups and individuals for all of their > help in this > tragic event: > USCG Station Lake Worth > Helo Golf November > Captain Bob Johnson of Rampage Dive Charters > Palm Beach Sheriffs Department - Dive teams, boat crews, and air search units > RV Ocean Window (561) 252-2526 > West Palm Police Department and dive team > Captain Ed Cooke of SS Minnow > And all of those who have gone out of their way to help > -- > Jeff Hirschman > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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