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I am sorry to announce that Tai Wilkerson did not survive this incident. Sender: Jim Cobb Date: 4/9/98 11:47 AM >Off the local new wire: > >--------------------------- >OCEAN CITY, Md. _ Searching for sunken treasure, a Virginia Beach scuba >diver apparently lost consciousness at 170 feet under water Wednesday and >was surfaced immediately by a fellow diver, risking the bends. He is in a >Norfolk hospital. > >Tai Wilkerson, a diver with Lynnhaven Dive Shop, was assisting the hunt >for the Juno, a Spanish treasure ship believed to have sunk off the >Virginia coast, went the accident occurred about 3:10 p.m. > >After more than two hours of rescue efforts by fellow divers, the Navy >and the Coast Guard, Wilkerson was taken by Coast Guard helicopter to >Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. His condition was unavailable Wednesday >night. > >Wilkerson was part of a team diving for the wreck, 40 miles off the coast >of Assateague Island for Quicksilver, a Virginia Beach treasure hunting >company. > >Quicksilver believes that the Juno rests at 180 feet. Such dives require >highly experienced, technical divers. They must dive with a mixture of >oxygen and helium at those depths. > >Wilkerson, in his early 40s, had dove to depths of more than 400 feet on >previous occasions and is a certified and highly trained diver and pilot. >The Lynnhaven Dive Center team is one of the most experienced deep water >dive teams in the region. > >Wilkerson was making his second dive of the day when he apparently got in >trouble. Mike Fantone, who dove with Wilkerson, said he saw that >Wilkerson was in trouble and went to his aid. > >``Right after that I looked at his eyes and they went out,'' Fantone >said. ``His eyes got all dilated and he stopped breathing.'' The only way >to get Wilkerson to the surface at that point was to inflate his buoyancy >vest and hope for the best. > >After going to great depths, divers must make ``decompression'' stops at >several points to avoid the bends -- when nitrogen in their bloodstream >expands rapidly and chokes off the blood supply. > >It was the last dive of the day after several unsuccessful attempts to >locate what Quicksilver hoped was a cannon spotted in earlier dives. >After Wilkerson was taken to the hospital, the crew returned to Virginia >Beach. > >``There are very few people who went as far as (Wilkerson) did in their >training,'' Mike Hillier, head of the Lynnhaven Dive Center team, said. >----------------------- > >So far this is all I know about this. > > Jim > >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > ------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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