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Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 21:54:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Rebreather Death in PA
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com
To: "Daniel Smith" <Daniel_Smith@CO*.CO*>
From: Jim Cobb <cobber@ci*.co*>
Robert Barrett, hey wasn't he Terrace Tysall's diving buddy? That would 
make this another Buddy Despiration death, right?

    Jim

On Monday, August 5, 2002, at 12:35 PM, Daniel Smith wrote:

> 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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