Why is almost every technical diving death always attributed to a heart
attack?

James Dibbs
Sydney, Australia

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Smith [mailto:Daniel_Smith@CO*.CO*]
Sent: Tuesday, 6 August 2002 2:35 AM
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: Rebreather Death in PA


Anyone have any more info on this:

Sunday, August 4

By Cris Foehlinger
Sunday News Staff Writer


Diver dies in quarry

Maryland man was training others, including adopted son





   As storm clouds brewed Saturday afternoon, rescue teams rushed to the
Bainbridge quarry to help find a missing diver. But as the workers
assembled,
 the diver was pulled dead from the quarry about 4 p.m., not far from where
he had gone in.

Dr. Miles Newman, deputy county coroner, pronounced Robert Barrett, 32, of
Elkridge, Md., dead at 5:10 p.m., said Susquehanna Regional Police officer
Stephen W. Englert. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Steve Mutchler, owner of Bainbridge Scuba Center, which offers a place for
divers to practice, said Barrett was diving with a group that included his
adopted son.

"They were using rebreath equipment," Mutchler said.

Most divers use an oxygen canister on their backs to breathe while expelling
carbon dioxide out through a vent. That, Mutchler said, is what makes the
 bubbles people typically see.

This method, he said, involves equipment where the expelled air is
circulated back into the tank and rebreathed. Divers wear a small oxygen
bottle on
their belt that is used to add oxygen back into the tank as needed.

"This is very technical diving," Mutchler said. "The margin of error here is
slim so these guys weren't amateurs."

Barrett was found near the bottom of the quarry in 42 feet of water.
Apparently, he sent the three other divers ahead of him and was to catch up.
When
 he didn't, the other divers reported him missing. "He was an instructor of
some sort," Mutchler said.

Newman said Barrett was down for two hours, but had oxygen for five hours.
He said workers tried to resuscitate him, but that Barrett had been dead
for some time.

Officer Englert said the three with Barrett were: Sean Baird, 44, of
Columbia, Md.; Adam Bress, 19 of Ellicott City, Md., the adopted son of
Barrett;
and Michael Secreast, 43, of Laurel, Md.

Barrett died on the group's second dive of the day.

While not regulars, Mutchler said the divers had been to his facility
before. "I just don't know what happened."

The number one cause of fatalities among divers, he said, is heart attacks.
"Divers will overexert themselves."

Teams from Life Team River Rescue in Harrisburg, Columbia Fire Co. No. 1,
Pioneer Fire Co. Water Rescue, Northwest Ambulance, Maytown Ambulance and
Susquehanna Regional Police assisted at the scene.


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