Incidents List
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Year Month Day Surname Forenames Location Contractor Client Depth Type of Diving Details -
2002 6 19 Leoni Helga Italy Marine Consulting 25 S/S Air 33 year old female NDT diver, daughter of the owner of the diving company. DSV "Palinuro II" diving on/near the Agostino B platform. No stand-by diver. Engine "mistakenly" started, Umbilical caught in propellor. -
2002 6 14 Jolliff Paul USA 15 SCUBA Firefighter, aged 37, died during the final dive of a 21 day open water SCUBA training course. Objective was to locate a cinder block by conducting sweep searches from a marker buoy and then bring it to surface using an inverted 5 gallon bucket as a lifting bag. Zero visibility, cold water. Underwater comms set only partially operational (he could hear, but not transmit). He and partner located block, as they were rigging it, he suddenly grabbed for his partner's face mask knocking him to one side, dropped his weight belt and disappeared. Second diver surfaced and raised the alarm. Stand-by diver entered the water immediately to commence sweep searches from the original marker buoy but after his 4th sweep was pulled to the surface by the crew pulling up the marker buoy in an attempt to see if the lost diver was still attached to the swim line. Buoy reset, but in a different location.. Search continued and the body was located over two hours later by sonar from a surface support boat. He was tied to the cinder block (They were using 5' long lanyards as the lifting rigging, he had gone into the water with his attached to his harness 'D' ring. It appears he attached it before releasing the second end from his harness). Death certificate recorded death as due to drowning. SCUBA cylinder was empty when recovered, some equipment breakages, but not concluded whether factors in the incident. The investigation made 3 recommendations:- 1: Fire departments should ensure that equipment checks are performed before each dive and defective equipment is repaired or replaced before the dive takes place. 2: Fire Departments should ensure that all participants in diver training have practiced the specific evolution in a controlled environment such as a swimming pool before attempting the evolution in open water.. 3: Fire departments should ensure that search-and-rescue operations establish and use reference points to conduct searches -
2002 5 23 Macko Steven C USA SCUBA Aged 42, off duty firefighter/diver, working for a contractor installing a fountain in Petersen Lake, a 15 acre lake in the centre of O'Hare Office Plaza, with 4 other divers, died, no details but reported that he and his colleagues planned to swim across the lake to the fountain but that when he was pulled from water his air valve was turned off -
2002 5 22 Blackley Martin UK Seahorse Aquaculture 16 SCUBA British, Royal Marine commando, aged 26, Altbea Fish farm, Loch Ewe, entangled in rope, valve not fully functional, speculated that he hyperventilated, panicked, drowned. He was unqualified, 3 man dive team, no dressed in stand-by, no lifeline, no communications, no knife, no risk assessment, no dive logs, On medical leave with a leg injury, diving in exchange for a £300 drysuit -
2002 4 30 Buckland Paul William Australia 10 SCUBA Australian, aged 23, professional scallop diver, Shark attack. Was wearing a "shark pod" (Electric shark repellor), may not have been switched on at depth but was on at time of attack on the surface. May have been incorrectly fitted (electrode position). Recommendation from coroner that at all commercial and recreational divers working in waters where the presence of sharks is a risk should wear at shark repellent device. -
2002 4 30 Not Recorded UK Police 42 SCUBA Police dive team trying to recover the bodies of three family members from the hull of their vessel that sank off the South Downs Coast, two divers surfaced, one with pains in arms and shoulders, the second with ruptured eardrums, treated in a DDC, OK -
2002 4 0 Not Recorded Australia 3 SCUBA Deckhand on lobster boat trying to free a snagged pot in 2.7 metres, drowned, skipper fined $20,000, no stand-by diver, not anchored (live boating, engine running). -
2002 3 14 Christie, RN Lt. David UK RN British, aged 28, RN, training dive under HMS Grafton in Portsmouth harbour, found unconscious under hull, when dislodged surfaced rapidly by inflated buoyancy device, fatal pulmonary barotrauma but may already have been dead from lack of oxygen -
2002 3 7 Thomas Darrin Paul USA Divcon 6 S/S Air Working beneath the 'Horseshoe' riverboat casino on the Red River, Baton Rouge, with dredging equipment when he lost comms with the surface. A standby diver was slow entering the water and once in the water was unable to locate the diver. The diver's body was recovered by civil rescue divers called to the scene. Reported in “The Advocate� -
2002 3 2 da Silva Marcos Francisco Brazil Campos basin, Petrobras platform P-20 died in an accident on the first day he worked on the platform, no details. Viaseg.com -
2002 1 8 Bowling Jay Allen USA FMSM Aged 24 from Danville, one of a four man team of divers who arrived on site on that day working for Fuller, Mossbarger, Scott and May, diving contractors at the Mt. Sterling water and sewage plant on the Greenbriar Resevoir in Montgomery County. Died after his leg was sucked into an intake pipe he was attempting to install an addtional valve on, drowned. The valve had been opened without his knowledge before he entered the water (It was his first day with FMSM and first day on site) Lexington Herald. -
2002 0 0 IMCA SF 06 02 IMCA Diring DP DSV Saturation diving, vessel suffered a black out, Investigation revealed a history of unexplaned shutdowns whose significance had not been recognised. IMCA Safety Flash 06/02 -
2002 0 0 IMCA SF 07 02 IMCA During DP DSV Saturation diving, vessel suffered a power management incident. Single point failure had not been identified in the FMEA. IMCA Safety Flash 07/02 -
2002 0 0 IMCA SF 09 02 IMCA Report of a survey vessel sinking due to uncontrolled water ingress into the engine room after the survey transponder pole was dropped in the tube knocking off the lower gland. IMCA safety Flash SF 09/02 (This report refers to the sinking of the 'Ocean Voyager' off Iran, no injuries, photos were circulated on the intranet (TC). -
2002 0 0 IMCA SF 11 02 IMCA 19 Saturation DSV lift bag incident. 600 Kg flange to surface after diver lost control of load (No hold back or inverter line) IMCA Safety Flash SF 11/02 -
2002 0 0 Not Recorded USA Liquid Engineering Topsides American, aged 27, three children, part of a three man potable water tank diving team inspecting a water tower. Rung gave way as he was climbing the external ladder to reach the tank, fell 55', died. Bonnier Corporation 'SCUBA' News article -
2002 0 0 Not Recorded Thailand Scuba dive boat 'Laddawan 2' Paraphrased from press reports:- “2002 Unknown Date - 13 October 2010 report in the Phuket Gazette stated that:- 'Phuket Dive Boat Goes Up in Flames. A widely known dive tour operator lost a dive boat to a fire this morning. The dive boat, the Laddawan 2, was in the news eight years ago (2002) when a member of the crew "had his stomach sliced open and lost severed limb while cleaning the propeller" near Koh Racha Yai. The article also provides a photo of the dive boat on fire. Polson Enterprises, List of propeller incidents/Phuket Gazette -
2002 0 0 Not Recorded USA Horizon S/S Air Details not confirmed, Barge "Brazos", lowered a jet sledge onto a diver, two broken legs, hat off, stand-by found the diver breathing off his pneumo -
2001 12 31 Feher Mark USA SCUBA Aged 21, professional golf ball diver, working on the links at Boynton beach with his brother. Both on SCUBA but . Reported as an experienced diver, failed to surface at the end of the dive, recovered by his brother, drowned, no details. St. Petersburg Times -
2001 12 17 James Leslie UK Saturation British, crushed hand during lifting operations. -
2001 12 17 Not Recorded Germany 40 SCUBA Aged 29, wife and six year old daughter, the manager of a 5 man diving contractor from Hamburg, 10 o'clock on a Monday morning, cleaning operations on frond mats at the Droda Dam, two man dive, after 10 minutes partner caught in fronds and had to ditch his weight belt and lost his knife, he surface safely but realised the other diver had not surfaced but could not go down to to lack of weight belt. Body pulled up on a line (lifeline?), may have been without cylinders when recovered (ditched his gear?), entangled, lost his cyliners, no other details. Reported in Schatzsucher.de -
2001 12 4 Cleugh Andrew Ross Netherlands 22 S/S Air British, aged 29, trapped underwater during a pipeline survey, trench wall collapse “caused by an earth tremor�, inquest in March 2006, drowned, no real details. -
2001 11 13 Bray Thomas M USA Police SCUBA American aged 52, Philadelphia police force, assigned to the marine unit, recovering a buoy in the Delaware river near Fort Mifflin in Douth Philadelphia, entangled in the line, drowned. Reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer. -
2001 10 22 Gouveia Nereus Brazil Port of Paranagua, Petobras tanker 'Norma' hit rocks leading to discharge of 1.8 million litres of Naptha. Diver from a local diving contractor in Paranagua hired by an engineer from the Petrobras subsidiary 'Transpetro' died during operations to assess the damage (Reported as 'at 17:30 the diver suffered a sudden illness and was taken to hospital where he died at 19:00 hours'). Cause of death given as 'inhalation of Naptha'. Due to the escaped Naptha cloud, there were both marine and aviation exclusion zones, but they still allowed the diving operation on the leaking hull. Investigation concluded that the diver had standard equipment not suitable for polluted water operations. The Trtanspetro engineer was sacked and also accused of manslaughter, acting negligently and without knowledge of the technical rules thereby unintentionally causing the death of the diver. The courts eventually said the diving contractor was at fault for not assessing the situation correctly. Reported by Amigos de Terra and other Brazilian press sources. -
2001 10 17 Wave Dancer Belize SCUBA 17 out of 20 SCUBA diving American tourists and 3 crew members died when the “Wave Dancer� capsised in harbour when struck by Hurricane Iris. No evacuation, no hurricane contingency plan, worst known single diving accident. -
2001 10 14 Farr Aubrey Jamica Topsides Aged 32, the third specialist drug search diver to have been murdered in 12 months. His body was found by residents on the soft shoulder of Diamond Road, Kingston, with multiple stab and chop wounds. Two other divers, Carl Lubsey and Donovan Henry, were shot dead in separate incidents in Clarendon and St. James last year. It is alleged that Mr. Farr who had replaced Mr. Lubsey, left his home last weekend to check the hull of a cargo ship in Port Antonio, Portland. The threat of Hurricane Iris forced the ship to leave sooner than expected and Mr. Farr, who was travelling with another diver, returned to Kingston. His body was found on the street about 3 a.m. His van was found on Wednesday, parked on the Port Henderson Road, near to Portmore, St. Catherine. The passenger seat was stained with blood, and the commercial radio was missing but Mr. Farr's diving equipment was intact. The killers of the other two divers have still not been found. Jamaia Gleaner -
2001 10 13 Frayne Kenneth USA Firefighter SCUBA American, aged 28. Volunteer fire-fighter with the Channahon fire department. Multi agency dive training exercise included a dive coordinator, an assistant dive coordinator, and seven divers in a man-made lake. They had sunk a boat and two mannequins in the lake to simulate a boating incident. Four of the divers, including the victim, were on their second dive when the victim went missing at the end of the dive. Initial confusion as to whether he had gone ashore, so some time before underwater search commenced. Dispatch was notified of the missing diver, and additional search-and-rescue crews responded to the scene with two rescue boats. The victim was found in the area of his last known location, approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes after he was last seen by his dive partner. His SCUBA cylinder empty, BD partially unbuckled, hood and mask off, regulator out. When the victim was brought to the surface he had blood coming from his nose and mouth. Transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Investigators recommended that:- 1. Fire departments should develop, implement and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding diver training, 2. Ensure that each diver maintains continuous visual, verbal, or physical contact with his or her dive partner, 3. Ensure that a backup diver and a ninety-percent-ready diver are in position to render assistance, 4. Ensure that the dive coordinator stays informed about the rates of air consumption by divers, 5. Provide divers with refresher training on the hazards of lung over-expansion injuries and prevention measures. Medical examiner and the reviewing medical officer noted the possibility that an air embolism may have contributed to the drowning. -
2001 10 4 Udalov S. USSR 4 S/S Air Aged 44 While working on unloading the cargo from the wrecked ship "Volgo-Don-145" Air hose, cut by the piece of metal, diver died. No details. Undersea Review -
2001 9 0 Not Recorded USSR Aged 50, commercial operation on the Neva river, no details -
2001 8 10 Sempert Craig E USA SCUBA Aged 44, Owner of Craig's Dive Shop in Craig, was diving for a survey by Cape Fox Corp. Apparently got trapped in the outflow pipe from the power station pond south of Ketchikan, his body was recovered from the outflow pipe after his wife reported Friday afternoon that he hadn't come back from the dive. Inference is solo dive on SCUBA. Reported in Kenai Peninsula on-line -
2001 7 25 Novichenko A USSR Stavropolsky region, Aged 41, During the repair work at the Sengeleevsky Water reservoir dam. Sucked in a wall break by the water flow. No details. Undersea Review -
2001 7 24 Murray David UK RN 81 Rebreather Diving from the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre at Kyle of Lochalsh, RN "Could not reveal the nature of the men's dive" Aged 28, a member of Fleet Diving Unit 3, based at Horsea Island in Portsmouth for just 6 weeks, failed to surface and was reported missing on the morning of July 24. His body was recovered that afternoon. The cause of the incident was not reported pending a Board of Inquiry. -
2001 7 13 Rig 'Marine IV' USA Jack Up, blow out -
2001 6 22 Kin Chong Chee Singapore Aged 28, described as a 'seasoned diver', found floating face down during a tanker inspection dive off Tuas. Straits Times -
2001 6 11 Willis Emmett Clive USA SCUBA Aged 51, professional golf ball diver, 15th hole of the Westport Country club in Hickory, drowned, no details apart him only having been SCUBA certified three months prior to his death. -
2001 5 9 Rig 'Glomar Baltic I' USA, GOM Jack Up, Blow out -
2001 5 5 Draughon USN Mathew Japan USN S/S Air American Navy diver aged 21, diving off USS "Safeguard", salvage of crashed F-16, early hours of the morning, strong currents, hoses wrapped around anchor chains, helmet off, body washed up on beach a month later, 'drowned due to accident', second diver, Bryan Gordon was rescued safely. Navy criticised vessel leadership for not taking account of fatigue, deteriorating weather conditions and poor risk management procedures. estripes.com -
2001 5 3 Devis Craig Australia Relik Pty Ltd. 15 S/S Air Diving off Forbes Island Great Northern Barrier Reef, harvesting rock lobster. Following no response from diver for several minutes tender driver hauled diver to surface unconscious. CPR attempts unsuccessful. Oxygen equipment unsuitable for non breathing person. Air intake hose to petrol driven compressor had split. Weighted vest unable to be released in emergency. No alternate air supply . Prosecution (Above plus unsafe Hookah unit). Drowning with carbon monoxide toxicity and DCI as contributory factors). Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland. -
2001 3 15 Rig P 36 Brazil Petrobras Semi Submersible, (Built in Italy, 'Spirit of Clumbus', converted to an FPU to operate in the Roncador field), explosions in tanks in the columns, listed, further explosions (which killed 11 members of the fire fighting team), rig eventually sank 5 days after the initial explosion in 1300 metres water depth. -
2001 3 8 Rosa Jose Luis Di Cstro Uruguay Navy 3 SCUBA Aged 23, Naval diver with four years experience, Port of Montevideo, propeller inspection of the crane barge 'General Artigas'. Appears to have been entrapment/out of air/drowning, but no real details. La Republica -
2001 3 1 Rig 'Ensco 51' USA Jack Up, Eugene Island 273, blowout when setting casing, fire -
2001 2 21 Tenedorio Manuel Antonio Portugal Fireman Aged 38, Local man, fire department diver cleaning the gates of the Coura Covas Dam at Vila Nova de Cerveira (North West Portugal on the river Minho) with two others, reported as 'fell into the river', recovered from the river alive but died on the way to hospital. 'Diver', part of a 'working diving team' doing 'dive team work', but not diving. Reported as "probably not drowning, might have hit his head". Reported by publico.pt -
2001 1 0 Not Recorded USA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, diver swept over dam spillway, umbilical snap link broke, air hose pulled out of hat, drowned, no citations issued -
2001 1 0 Not Recorded USSR Military Military student, torpedo tube escape exercise, one of three students failed to exit, system water level lowered, found unconscious, treated in DDC, OK. Undersea Review -
2001 0 5 Harchenko D USSR Aged 27, Yablonovsky village While working on recovering a car from the Kuban river, trapped in car door, lost of regulator. Failed to use knife or drop weight belt, drowned. Undersea Review -
2001 0 0 IMCA SF 07/01 IMCA Diver fatality due to underwater oxy/arc explosion. IMCA Safety Flash SF 07/01. (Possibly refers to either Scott Mercer (GOM, Titam, August 200 or to Chris Hill (UKCS, SCS August 1999) -
2001 0 0 IMCA SF 08 01 IMCA Topsides ROV winch brake failure, winch paid out, lost ROV and umbilical in 2300m water depth. IMCA Safety Flash SF 08/01 -
2001 0 0 IMCA SF 08 01 IMCA S/S Air Dive basket LARS winch brake failure, winch paid out, in between dives, no injury. IMCA Safety Flash SF 08/01 -
2001 0 0 IMCA SF 09 01 IMCA Topsides ROV winch failure, IMCA Safety Flash SF 9/01 -
2001 0 0 Not Recorded IMCA 140 Saturation Diver injured in a negative pressure incident during diving operations on a subsea manifold to install additional 4 inch pipe spools in a well bay. The spools had been transported to the vessel with wooden blind protectors on the flange faces to prevent impact damage. These did not have pre-drilled vent holes and were to be replaced on board the vessel with standard donut protectors. However, two assemblies were apparently overlooked and were subsequently deployed subsea with the unvented wooden blinds still in place. At the time of the incident, the diver had manoeuvred the spool piece close to its final position, removed the tie wrap and then attempted to lever the wooden blind off the flange face using his knife. It appears that the blind then imploded due to the build-up of negative pressure, pulling the diver’s hand through the blind and into the spool, causing a fracture to the arm and dislocation of the thumb, bruising and swelling. IMCA Safety Flash 12/01 -
2001 0 0 Turnbull Robert Qatar Hallul 50 Saturation British, DSV "Khattaf" (Ex "British Argyll"). Died whilst locked out, suspected heart attack -
2000 12 20 Thorpe Danny Australia Aged 47, abalone diver, one of a two man crew, boat overturned on the Monday, after clinging to the overturned hull for several hours, the skipper swam to shore but was swept 30 kilometres in 15 hours to a remote shore where he wae found on Wednesday. Known shark area, crewman decided to stay with the hull. Shredded remains of a life preserver found washed up later. Presumed shark attack. Skipper vowed he would never go back to sea. Philippine Daily Inquirer. NB Skipper did return to sea, only to lose another crewman to shark attack eleven years later (Peter Clarkson, February 2011) -
2000 11 30 Cote Martine Canada Hydro-Quebec 6 S/S Air Aged 28. Paraphrased from the press report:- A team of engineers, commercial divers and their support staff were conducting a routine underwater video inspection of the power-house dam, generating station Hull 2. Martine Côté went under the surface at 12:30 p.m. and within less than half an hour, radioed that she was in trouble. According to the public relations officer for Hydro-Québec, Côté had encountered what is known as "suction." Suction occurs when there is a hole or fissure in the dam wall on the upstream side, and it means death for divers. "We had no idea. The basin had been seen dry, and there was no hole at that time. At 20 feet of water, the visibility isn't so great, unless there was a vortex you can't see it." It is also not clear how she died--whether from hypothermia, suffocation or the tremendous pressure on her body which could have caused a cardiac arrest. Officials at Hydro-Québec say only that she was declared dead at the hospital after resuscitation attempts had failed. The suction pulling on Côté's body was approximately 3,000 pounds per square feet in 20 feet of water. It was so strong that it ripped off her suit. There was no crane on the site, so the 14 workers on the surface were trying to pull her up manually. She was also not wearing a crotch harness. During the pulling from above, her body harness fell apart and her umbilical--a cord that provides air--was severed. They pulled unsuccessfully with nylon cables, finally getting her out at about 2 pm. "This woman was special, she was Hydro's [and Quebec's] only female commercial diver." reported in the Montreal Mirror -
2000 11 29 Not Recorded Fiji 130 SCUBA Two Fijian divers, 'one a master diver, the other less experienced' were hired to recover an anchor lost in 130 metres off Gau island. When they failed to surface, another diver attempted to rescue them, began to lose consciousness and inflated his ABLJ, he was admitted to the CWM hospital in Suva, given therapeutic decompression in a chamber and reported as having survived. No other details. Reported in the Fiji Times Online. (NB As far as I can ascertain, the facts are correct – two divers were hired, agreed to, and then attempted to, recover an anchor in 130 metres on air in SCUBA, TC) -
2000 11 23 Moscow USSR Military An elite, specially-trained team of combat divers guards the Kremlin against potential attackers trying to gain access to the Kremlin through the sewers underwater from the River Moskva and the underground network of sewers. But any would-be transgressors would be met by sinister-looking combat divers - known as strategic-purpose divers. The first units of combat divers were set up in the 1960s to combat underwater saboteurs. They now form part of the Presidential Bodyguard Service. The divers all have officer's rank and get free flats in Moscow. As well as patrolling the sewers, they also inspect the River Moskva around the Kremlin, protect all the presidential residences from offshore and accompany the president when he goes to the Black Sea resort of Sochi. A special underwater pistol was designed as a non-automatic four-barrel gun loaded in the same way as a hunter's rifle, by opening the breach. The bullets look strange too. A bullet is actually a long needle or a "nail" as the divers call it. The nails can kill at a distance of six to 17 metres, depending on the depth. The divers say that underwater fighting with knives only exists in films. A basic principle of underwater combat is that whoever attacks first, wins. Even the slightest wound could be lethal underwater because water pressure leads to massive loss of blood which renders the diver useless in seconds. If their oxygen supply is cut, the special purpose divers have a small reserve balloon attached to their chest with enough oxygen to get to the surface, Reported in the Russian weekly newspaper Versiya and BBC -
2000 11 11 Davis Ted USA Energy Partners or D & W Welding Services 23 South Pass 28, The diver was working on a severed pipeline when he lost communication with the surface. A second diver was unable to locate the first diver. Pressure differential, sucked into a pipe when dredging cleared blocked pipe opening, body reciovered the following day. -
2000 11 8 Miller Gary A UK Arkal Ltd British, aged 36, experienced commercial diver, ex-Navy, bridge construction at Canary Wharf, indications of poor equipment (one missing crutch strap, the other taped on) and band mask may have been incorrectly assembled such that the band holding the hood on parted and the pieces separated. Recorded verdict “diver was unlawfully killed�. -
2000 11 6 Ferreiro Eduardo Spain Tycsub 40 SCUBA Paraphrased from Press reports: “The accident killed a 35 year old diver carrying out commercial diving on a sewage outfall pipe at Mompos in San Sebastian. Contractor did not have the required permission from Maritime to carry out the work, no insurance, the diver had no medical, no in date SCUBA cylinder certificate, The ruling states that "The incident occurred about 11:00 pm on 6 December 2000, when the victim, who was turning 32, was unconscious with narcosis, anxiety, shortness of breath or over-exertion that could lead to carbon dioxide poisoning that caused death by cardiac arrest. These deficiencies pose serious violation of the applicable regulations posing a grave risk to workers leading to the death of the diver which would have been avoided had if the legally required security measures had been adopted by the accused�. Diver had no qualifications, and even if so would only have been certified to 25 metres under current legislation, no permit to dive from harbourmaster, no stand-by diver. The company manager was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, a fine of 1,080 euros, and ordered to compensate the family of the deceased with a total of 160,000 euros 5 years after the fatality. Bajoelagua.com -
2000 10 31 Lubsey Carl Jamaica Police Topsides One of two specialist divers who searched for drugs under the hulls of ships killed within two weeks of each other (The other was Donovan Henry, killed 14th October), was probably slain because he turned down bribes for several million dollars, according to police sources. According to reports, several attempts had been made to bribe Carl Lubsey but that he'd refused the offers. The police reported that at about 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31, Mr. Lubsey was on his way to Rocky Point to check the ship Orlent River II, which had been docked at the Rocky Point Port, Clarendon, to collect alumina. Police reports at the time said Lubsey was driving his Nissan pick-up on the Rocky Point Pier Road when a grey car drove up behind him. Occupants in the car opened fire hitting him and he lost control of his vehicle which crashed. The gunmen came out of the car and opened fire again, hitting him all over his body. He died on the spot. Senior Superintendent Carl Williams, the island's narcotics' chief, said the police believed the divers were killed because of their occupation and hinted that there could be a breakthrough in another week. However, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said hat while both cases were being investigated, the lawmen were yet to effect an arrest. The Jamaica Gleaner -
2000 10 25 Benvenuto Francesco Italy Barracuda 0 SCUBA Italian aged 32. Workshop in Genoa harbour, charging SCUBA cylinders, explosion, killed by facial impact from fitting/valve. Fitting with incorrect thread screwed into cylinder -
2000 10 19 Reynolds David Grant Australia Cossack Pearls SCUBA Aged 31, from Queensland, was pearl diving with two other men off Onslow in October 2000 when tragedy struck. “His oxygen mask had become separated from his face and he was lying lifeless on the ocean floor�. Attempts by his co-workers to resuscitate him failed. The Perth Court of Petty Sessions found the man's employer was partly responsible for his death and imposed a $10,000 fine on the company. ABC News online -
2000 10 14 Henry Donovan Jamaica Topsides One of two specialist divers who searched for drugs under the hulls of ships killed in October (the other was Carl Lubsey, 31st October 2000), was probably slain because he turned down bribes for several million dollars according to police sources. His body was discovered on the Farm main road, Montego Bay, St. James, on October 14, two days after he was reported missing from his home. Senior Superintendent Carl Williams, the island's narcotics' chief, said the police believed the divers were killed because of their occupation and hinted that there could be a breakthrough in another week. However the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported that while both cases were being investigated, the lawmen are yet to effect an arrest. The Jamaica Gleaner. A third diver, Aubrey Farr, was murdered in October 2001. -
2000 10 11 Linscomb John USA Land and Underwater Welding Topsides American, Bayou Adams near Orange, Texas, incident occurred when the divers were returning to a boatramp at the end of a diving project and their boat hit a power line tower. The diver was killed. Another diver, who was operating the boat, was seriously injured. NAOCD/cDiver blog, No other details. -
2000 10 11 Not Recorded USA Land and Underwater Welding Topsides American, Bayou Adams near Orange, Texas, incident occurred when the divers were returning to a boatramp at the end of a diving project and their boat hit a power line tower. The diver was, who was operating the boat, was seriously injured, another diver (John Linscomb) was killed. NAOCD/cDiver blog, No other details. -
2000 9 19 Cummings Ron USA SCUBA Aged 49, highly decorated captain in the Phoenix fire department. Off duty, One of a three man team of fire-fighter with a commercial diving business, no back up, communications or stand-by, failed to surface after diving in to inspect the entrance gateway of an inlet to a 21' diameter syphon pipe running under the Aqua Fria river into a canal, part of the Central Arizona Project which delivers water from the Colorado river to the Phoenix area. Body recovered later the same day after syphon was drained. No details -
2000 9 4 Diebolt Brian USA Torch Marine Diver was working offshore but ill (reported as pneumonia, possibly developed from poor air quality, complicated with continual diving), but apparently was not allowed to return to the beach upon several requests from himself and others. Eventually taken onshore , then taken immediately to hospital, and admitted right, died 45 days later from complications. NAOCD/cDiver -
2000 8 13 Smith Warren C USA 21 SCUBA Fire-fighter, aged 28, Search and rescue training dive in a lake. Circular search, partner lost the rope and became separated, basic SCUBA gear only, no voice comms, Another diver saw the victim who was distressed and frantically screaming, the victim knocked out the other diver's face piece. The victim, who was entangled in the buoy line was pulled to the surface by the line, given medical assistance and transported to hospital by air ambulance where he was pronounced dead, The cause of death was stated as pulmonary barotrauma. NIOSH report -
2000 7 15 Not Recorded Australia Topsides LST injured (Major hand trauma) during demobilisation gas transfer - a William James compressor explosion. 20/80 heliox. Safety Flash issued by Australia authorities. (See IMCA SF 03/00). -
2000 7 14 Poore Tommy USA SCUBA American, vesssel husbandry work on a vessel in the Houston Shipping channel, reported missing, body recovered two days l;ater. No commercial qualifications. NAOCD/cDiver -
2000 6 27 Winkler Steven USA SCUBA American, aged 27, from Bellingham, professional sea cucumber harvesting off the vessel “Silver sea�, Griffin Bay, off San Juan island, critically ill, intensive care in Seattle hospital after surfacing from dive -
2000 6 25 Banu Fred Australia Oceantech Pty 25 S/S Air Australian (Torres Straits Islander), professional sea cucumber (Beche de mer) harvester. Near Don Cay in the Torres Strait. Diving from tender vessel on hooker style SSBA diving system. Airline pulled tight causing separation of airline at connection. Diver found on the seabed 15 minutes late and recovered unconscious from sea floor. Outboard unable to be started. Drowned. Prosecution (Inappropriate and poorly maintained SSBA equipment. No emergency air source. No current medical. No depth indicator used. No O2 resuscitation equipment). Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland. -
2000 6 24 Climer Michael USA Caldive Topsides American, diver/tender, topsides work removing a helideck, killed in a fall of 30', no details. cDiver -
2000 6 9 Not Recorded Canada Sports diver Big Tub Harbour Resort, Ontario, man killed by exploding cylinder at a diving club. No details. The Record -
2000 6 2 Not Recorded USA Police 0 Police officer, injured on the same dive during which Sgt Alane Soffregen died -
2000 6 2 Soffregen Sgt Alane USA Police 0 Female American police marine unit diver, aged 50, drowned during a training exercise 1 mile off Chicago waterfront. -
2000 5 28 Cronland Kyle USA Bulldod Diving American, Southern Indiana Gas and Electricity Company, Cinergy Power Plant, Indianapolis, Ohio River, zero vis, removing mud from a locked out pump. Pump cells all suck water from a common screen cell. Apparently either diver walked around dividing wall into common cell then was pulled or wandered into a live pump. Drowned when umbilical was cur (Did he have a bailout??). Cause given as incorrect lock out/rag out procedues. Offshore Diver/NAOCD/cDiver/Indianapolis Star -
2000 5 19 Harun Mohd Nor Malaysia Fire and Rescue Services SCUBA Paraphrased from the newspaper report:- “Another diver from the Fire and Rescue Services Department's scuba diving unit disappeared this morning during a search operation for a colleague who had gone missing since Monday around the waters of Pulau Lalang and Pulau Saga. The diver, identified as Mohd Nor Harun, in his 40s, is feared to have suffered a similar fate as his colleague, Idris Ahmad, 36. Idris was believed to have drowned while clearing the waters of discarded fishing nets. A police spokesman said the incident occurred about 11.30am today when the diver failed to surface for a break. His body was found by fisherman 3 days later. 40 divers were taking part in the search. Another diver became unconscious during the search and was admitted to the armed forces hospital at the Lumut naval base�. Reported in the New Straits Times -
2000 5 16 Ahmad Idris Malaysia Fire and Rescue Services SCUBA Paraphrased from the newspaper report:- “Another diver from the Fire and Rescue Services Department's scuba diving unit disappeared this morning during a search operation for a colleague who had gone missing since Monday around the waters of Pulau Lalang and Pulau Saga. The diver, identified as Mohd Nor Harun, in his 40s, is feared to have suffered a similar fate as his colleague, Idris Ahmad, 36. Idris was believed to have drowned while clearing the waters of discarded fishing nets. A police spokesman said the incident occurred about 11.30am today when the diver failed to surface for a break. His body was found by fisherman 3 days later. 40 divers were taking part in the search. Another diver became unconscious during the search and was admitted to the armed forces hospital at the Lumut naval base�. Reported in the New Straits Times -
2000 5 12 King Edward USA Reported as "Quahog diver was found dead after reported missing. Boat and diver was found day after he was lost. Apparent Drowning" NAOCD/cDiver -
2000 5 5 Warzack Mathew USA Lindahl Marine S/S Air American, reported as "Diver was sucked into a 9 ft diameter intake. Lost communications with diver after 15 minutes, body recovered 40 minutes later. Improper tag-out procedures. 3 Citations, informally Settled". No other details. NAOCD/cDiver -
2000 4 20 Primavera Eric Joseph USA Denizens of the Deep S/S Air American, aged 30. Inspecting pilings on the South Cargo Pier at Port Canaveral, told topsides he was in trouble, standby diver found him entangled with helmet off, drowned. Citations/$14,700, The Ledger/NAOCD/cDiver -
2000 4 15 Rig 'Al Mariyah' UAE Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co. Jack up. Located over wellhead platform 94 (Umm Shaif field), skidding derrick, collapsed (failed jacking system). POB 68, 4 fatalities. After lay up was rebuilt by Arab Contractors Bahrain (2006) for NDC -
2000 4 1 Connor Gary UK Fathoms Ltd. 61 SCUBA Paraphrased from press reports:- “Diver sacrificed his life to save a colleague as he continued his 15-year quest for the wreck of the Finnish freighter ‘Joanna Thorden’. The freighter sank at the notorious Pentland Skerries in the Pentland Firth during a storm in 1937, reputedly carrying copper ingots (and possibly even silver bullion). Gary Connor, a director of Wick-based Fathoms Ltd, was diving with Kenny Paterson, aged 34, on August nineteenth 1998. As they searched at a depth of 200ft (nearly 40ft more than the legal limit for commercial scuba divers), Kenny Paterson suffered symptoms of the bends and Gary brought him to the surface. Gary also suffered the bends but after treatment contracted septicemia and died in hospital in April this year. The sheriff returned a formal verdict on the medical cause of death and noted Fathoms staff originally told the Health and Safety Executive it was a recreational dive and outwith their scope of inquiry�. Reported in the Scottish Daily Record & Sunday. The FAI notes that Gary Connor died at Caithness General Hospital on the April first 2000, 20 months after the accident (cerebral anoxia, spinal bend, quadaplegia leading to tetraparesis and septicaemia), that SCUBA equipment was not appropriate for the diving operation, that the HSE was falsely induced into believing it was a sports dive and therefore there was no prompt investigation. He also noted that the actions of the deceased achieved the ultimately successful rescue of his colleague. -
2000 4 0 Not Recorded Canada SCUBA Aged 36. A commercial diver with 12 years experience was drawn into a 30" diameter aerator intake pipe while attempting to locate the screens for two fire pump intakes. The pulp mill hired a diving company to inspect and clean two intake screens in their industrial effluent pond. Both parties thought that the work had been planned and all hazards identified. The pumps for the two intakes to be worked on had been identified and locked out. The diver, after entering the water with zero visibility, thought he had located the fire pump intakes when he was drawn into a nearby aerator intake pipe. The screen for this intake pipe had broken off and the diver was pulled, head first, 80 feet up the pipe. As the aerator intake pipe had not been identified on the drawings used, the 3 5,000 litre per minute aerator pump had not been locked out. There were no visual markers on the surface of the pond to identify the aerator or fire pump intakes. Worksafe Canada. Plus an OHS article in 2004 "It seems that Newfoundland's experience is also Canada's experience. In British Columbia, for example, there have been 33 workplace deaths in the commercial diving industry since 1975. The most recent fatality occurred in April, 2000 when a 36-year-old diver died while conducting maintenance work at a pulp mill" -
2000 4 0 Not Recorded USA During 1989-1997, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recorded 116 occupational diving fatalities in the United States (OSHA, unpublished data, 1998) 13 deaths per year. 49 five per year occurred among an estimated 3000 full-time commercial divers. The average of five deaths per year corresponds to a rate of 180 deaths per 100,000 employed divers per year, which is 40 times the national average death rate for all workers. This group, which accounts for most of the commercial dive time underwater, includes divers involved in construction, maintenance, and inspection of vessels and structures such as oil rigs, bridges, and dams. The remaining 67 deaths occurred among workers who were not full-time divers; these include seafood harvest divers, search and rescue divers, scientific divers, dive instructors, and non-military federal agency divers. Note from TC, this incidents list contains potential reference to less than 50% of OSHA reported cases in the USA -
2000 2 16 Williams Marcus Australia Endeavour Shipping Pty 10 SCUBA Australian, Diving in Investigator Roads, Gulf of Carpenteria. Diving operation to dismantle moorings in poor underwater visibility (<600mm) with surface swell and high current. Failed to surface, body never recovered. Contractor prosecuted (Inappropriate use of SCUBA for construction diving work. Cylinders not in current test. Lifeline disconnected by diver at surface and descended with lifeline over arm. Air purity not tested after previous oil contamination incident of HP compressor. No current medical certification. No standby diver fully equipped to act in standby diver role. No dive supervisor appointed. 30 minute delay to obtain appropriate equipment before search commenced) Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland. -
2000 2 3 Not Recorded Ivory Coast Kenyan Navy 47 SCUBA Kenyan Navy diver died during body recovery operations on the crash site of Kenyan Airways airbus, 310, flight KQ 431 to Lagos, that crashed into the sea 2 miles off Abijan after take off , 169 died, 10 survivors. -
2000 2 3 Weaver Bill USA SCUBA Paraphrased from the 'State News':- “A veteran commercial diver from Kodiak was killed while trying to clear line from a fishing boat's propeller, according to Kodiak police. Bill Weaver, 54, died when the skipper of the 81-foot trawler Lisa Malinda tried to move the vessel while Weaver was under the boat....� -
2000 1 15 Bankert Gary L USA Fire Brigade 7 SCUBA 37-year-old male volunteer fire fighter drowned during a dry-suit certification training dive. The victim was one of six divers which included one certified diving instructor (Professional Association Dive Instructor [PADI] Dive Master) and five students (three of the students were volunteer fire fighters). The victim was a member of the fire department’s search and recovery dive team. On the day of the incident, the training was being conducted at a privately owned freshwater lake that is dedicated exclusively to recreational diving. The training consisted of one, 3-hour classroom training session (held on January 8, 2000), followed by three open-water dives conducted on January 15, 2000. The first dive was conducted in a controlled area near the shore. The second and third dives were logged open-water dives for dry-suit certification. On the third dive ascent, the group made a safety stop at a depth of 15 feet. After the instructor got the okay signal from all of the students, they continued their ascent to the surface. When the victim failed to appear at the surface, two of the divers descended to the bottom and began searching for him. They found the victim at a depth of approximately 22 feet. They brought him to the surface where rescue breathing was initiated while moving him toward shore. Once on shore, paramedics transported the victim by ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead at 22:38 hours. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should ensure that divers maintain continuous visual, verbal, or physical contact with their dive partner. The death certificate lists the cause of death as severe metabolic acidosis as the result of near drowning. NIOSH report -
2000 1 12 Washburn Todd USA Marion Hill Associates 18 “A New Jersey diver remained missing in the Allegheny River on Monday even after authorities reduced the flow of water over a dam to aid in the search. Officials said efforts to find the body of Todd Washburn, 33, of Trenton, would continue Tuesday, but water flow would have to be returned to normal. Washburn worked for a company, Marion Hill Associates, that was inspecting the privately owned Piney Hydroelectric Station near Reesedale, Armstrong County.� (Part of the report also states that “Last year, 90 of the nation's 2500 commercial divers were killed on the job�, also that “the diver had 18 months experience as a commercial diver�. His body was recovered 5 days later downstream of the plant. No details of the actual cause of the incident. 2 Citations/$3,000. Associated Press/NACOD/cDiver -
2000 0 0 IMCA SF 01/00 IMCA Report of an unplanned initiation of bell recovery whilst bell door open (Newly modified and installed system) IMCA Safety Flash SF 01/00 -
2000 0 0 IMCA SF 03/00 IMCA Billy Pugh lifting equipment failure, 4 personnel onboard, 1 OK, 3 injured. IMCA Safety Flash SF 03/00 -
2000 0 0 IMCA SF 03/00 Australia IMCA Major hand injuries to LST during heliox gas transfer pumping, explosion inside a Williams and James compressor filter, Australian DSV. IMCA Safety Flash SF 03/00. This happened on the 15th July, see above (TC). -
2000 0 0 IMCA SF 04/00 IMCA 2 Additional Wiiliams and James compressor explosions during gas transfer operations -
2000 0 0 IMCA SF 06/00 IMCA Boatswain's chair lifting fatality incident (incorrect hook, none locking) IMCA Safet Flash SF 06/00 -
2000 0 0 Not Recorded 8 S/S Air Paraphrased from IMCA Safety Flash 1/2001:- “An IMCA member reported a diving fatality that occurred to a contract diver employed by a non-member company. During a surface supplied diving operation at a depth of 8 metres, whilst carrying out hook up operations, a diving fatality occurred. One of the divers was sick, vomiting inside his face helmet and clogging up his mask air demand valve. He pulled the helmet off his head in a rush, undid his bail out bottle harness, unhooked his umbilical safety hook from his body harness but failed to free himself from his bail out bottle pressure gauge hose. He subsequently drowned. In this case the diver appears to have tried to open the bail out bottle air supply in mistake for the free flow air valve. The diver’s breathing rate before the accident was very fast and shallow, and could have led to a build up of CO2 in his mask. CO2 build up can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, unconsciousness and death. The post accident investigation revealed that the diver who had died had no offshore diving experience. The logbook presented for scrutiny prior to the diving operations commencing was new with no dive records; the old book was requested but never received. The diver’s experience was apparently related to lobster fishing and gold digging in Rivers; this only came to light after the accident�. -
2000 0 0 Not Recorded IMCA 8 S/S Air Vomited inside his helmet and clogged up his demand valve. He pulled the helmet off his head in a rush, undid his bail out bottle harness, unhooked his umbilical safety hook from his body harness but failed to free himself from his bail out bottle pressure gauge hose. Drowned. Appears to have tried to open the bail out bottle air supply in mistake for the free flow air valve, breathing rate before the accident was very fast and shallow, and could have led to a build up of CO2 in his mask. The post accident investigation revealed he had no offshore diving experience. The logbook presented was new with no dive records; the old book was requested but never received. The diver’s experience was apparently related to lobster fishing and gold digging in rivers; this only came to light after the accident ( IMCA SF 01/01). -
1999 12 28 Mahoney Michael C USA Bisso Marine American, Mississippi river barge salvage job, oxy arc explosion, stand-by diver not dressed in. Diver was killed in an underwater explosion while performing "hot work" on the sunken barge. Early court documents from a civil action brought by Bisso Marine against OSHA when the investigation was transferred from USCG to OSHA shows that Mr. Mahoney's "autopsy revealed high levels of cocaine and TCH.....that Mahoney likely smoked crack cocaine on the barge shortly before making the dive." OSHA investigation complete. Citations on Appeal. Fine to be Paid, 4 Citations/$8250 NAOCD/cDiver -
1999 12 22 Militello A USA Paraphrased from press reports:- "Lobster Man Dies After Getting Caught in Propeller Shaft. The man, aged 40 from Goucester was on the 'Dean', a fishing boat, near Bakers Island Massachusetts (about 3 miles from the entrance to Beverly and Salem Harbours, when he became caught in the prop shaft.. A nearby fishing vessel notified the Coast Guard which transported him to Manchester Marina. He was then moved to Beverly Hospital and pronounced dead from "multiple trauma". Not clear if this was a diving accident. Polson Enterprises list of propeller incidents/Associated Press -
1999 12 7 Not Recorded Spain S/S Air Paraphrased from press reports:- “ A court in San Sebastian has sentenced company co-owner to a year and a half in prison for the death of a diver who was killed by the propeller of the boat from which he worked, while trying to clear an anchor that had been trapped at the bottom. The boat's skipper, who was also charged has been acquitted as he only complied with the orders of his superior . The deceased was working on a fish farm in Zumaia when about 12.30 the crew found that the bow anchor was stuck on the bottom. When the diver was in the water, the boat manager twice gave the order to go hard forward to dislodge the anchor and the employee complied with this indication, when the diver was dragged into the propeller and sliced to death. The ruling states that the owner and manager of the company "was directly responsible to provide safe working conditions for their workers', despite which he allowed the work to be performed by a single diver, where the legislation requires two. The court also noted the propeller should not have been used with a surface umbilical diver in the water,' reckless manager’ allowing the maneuver. For this reason, it condemned the manager to one year in prison for a crime of homicide by negligence and six months for another crime against the rights of worker plus banned from managing a diving company three years, plus compensation to the parents of 14,100. -
1999 11 11 Not Recorded USA Southwest Marine American, San Diego, This was reported as a drowning fatality by a possibly untrained SCUBA diver doing commercial work. No details, possibly dual report of death of Ramsey Downie reported a month earlier (Died 8/10/1999). NAOCD/cDiver. -
1999 10 20 Not Recorded USA Jim Wright Marine Construction American, Incident occurred on the Isle of Bahia, Lot 80 (Inland of Lake Worth), reported as a drowning of unknown cause. Possibly a case of a sports qualified SCUBA diver doing commercial diving work. Investigation closed. Fines to be Paid, 3 Citations/$3,600 but no details. NAOCD/cDiver -
1999 10 8 Downie Ramsey MacDonald USA Welder diver, 'died in an industrial accident' at Los Angeles Harbour, no details -
1999 8 29 Shepcot Jay USA Oceaneering 296 ADS GB 161, Semi-submersible Diamond Ocean Ambassador with an air gap of approximately 100 feet. ADS (Wasp) was being recovered, a piece of lifting tackle gave away, ADS dropped to the end of a safety cable. The shock load swung the ADS up beneath the semi-sub where it hit and broke one arm off the suit before the safety cable was severed by the edge of the deck. The ADS fell into the sea and because of the missing arm flooded and sank to the pontoon. It is believed that the diver died of a broken neck which occurred at the same time the arm was broken off. Once submerged, the suit flooded. Two standby dives were made before the diver was located and brought to the surface. "This fatality is attributable to rigging failure" Offshore Diver. (USCG found that the shackle pin used in attaching the WASP to the crane was of inferior quality and not rated for lifting the weight of a WASP. NAOCD/cDiver) -
1999 8 24 Swint, Jr Elwin USA S/S Air Initially reported as ‘diver lost at sea while harvesting sea urchins off Santa Rosa island'. Body was recovered. Cause of death recorded as drowning for unknown reasons, but no details NAOCD/cDiver. However a later report gives more details:- (Paraphrased) “The son of a sea urchin diver killed when a yacht ran over his air hose is suing the boat owner. The diver, aged 53, of Santa Barbara drowned last year off Santa Rosa Island. Attorneys for his son argue that the yacht was being operated in an "unsafe manner" before the accident. The U.S. Coast Guard found that the yacht had run over the diver's air hose but the owner was not negligent and that the boat contacted authorities shortly after spotting the diver in the water. The 49-foot yacht was battered by rough seas before the accident and sought shelter next to Swint's boat while the diver was underwater, the Coast Guard report said. The diver, who was not using a diver-warning flag, surfaced and yelled as the boat approached, and the boat owner turned turned his vessel around, the report said. The boat owner has said the diver's air hose became entangled in the boat's propeller as the vessel searched for him�. Associated Press article dated July 2000. -
1999 8 9 Mercer Scott USA Titan Marine Underwater oxy arc explosion, improperly vented tank. Offshore Diver. Also reported as "Diver was killed from a build-up of gases while welding on a salvage operation. Diver had not vented for gases to escape. USCG Findings: 1) Mercer was the diving supervisor of this operation. He was diving at the time without leaving a designated individual as supervisor topside while he was in the water, directly against industry policy. Mercer was Titan’s representative on the ADC BoD and therefore should have especially known industry policy better than anyone. 2) All areas were suppose to be vented first before any welding started. However, there was no records kept and consequently, Mercer begin welding in one of those areas that had not yet been vented. NAOCD/cDiver -
1999 8 6 Hill Chris UK Stolt Comex Seaway 117 Saturation British, aged 42, Buchan template, DSV "Discovery", oxy arc explosion. HSE prosecution, fined £60,000. (See IMCA SF 07/01). -
1999 7 21 Juse Bill USA Black Dog Divers Died 9 miles inside a tunnel dry diving operation in New Deer sewage outfall, Boston, double fatality (Juse). Both divers died as a result of bad air quality that resulted from extremely poor equipment and equipment not made to be used in a tunnel environment. Over $200,000 in fines for wilful violations. Boston Globe and others -
1999 7 21 Nordeen Tim USA Nowesco Died 9 miles inside a tunnel dry diving operation in New Deer sewage outfall, Boston, double fatality (Juse). Both divers died as a result of bad air quality that resulted from extremely poor equipment and equipment not made to be used in a tunnel environment. Over $200,000 in fines for wilful violations. Boston Globe and others -
1999 7 15 Pottberg Brian USA Fire Brigade SCUBA Aged 25, Member of Lee's Summit fire department. Described as a routine training exercise in Lakewood lake (Acting as the centre point for a second diver to swim increasing circular search pattern), “On July 15, 1999, one male fire fighter/paramedic/rescue diver (the victim) drowned while taking part in a drill. The victim, one of four rescue divers and a boat driver participating in a training drill, was assigned the "Pivot Diver" position. During the drill, a Safety Diver was to remain at the surface. The Pivot Diver (the victim), was to enter the water, follow the anchor line to the bottom, set up with a 50-foot length of rope, then signal the Pattern Diver (whose duty is to swim in a circular pattern searching for a rescue/recovery target) to descend and proceed with the drill. The crew on the surface observed air bubbles as the victim descended. Approximately 2 minutes later the rope bag surfaced while the bubbles continued. It appeared to the crew on the surface that the victim was searching for the rope bag because the air bubbles appeared to be moving back and forth. The Lead Diver instructed the Pattern Diver to descend and retrieve the victim. The Lead Diver also started to knock on the bottom of the rescue boat with a dive knife in hopes of signaling the victim to return to the surface. When the Pattern Diver surfaced, he reported the victim could not be found. The Lead Diver then instructed the Boat Driver to radio for emergency assistance and implement the department’s Incident Command System (ICS). The Lead Diver also directed the Safety Diver to initiate rescue of the victim. When the Safety Diver surfaced without the victim, the Lead Diver instructed the Safety Diver to assume the role of Pivot Diver. The Lead Diver assumed the role of Pattern Diver. Both the Safety Diver and Lead Diver dove below the surface to initiate a rescue of the victim. The victim was found during the search and brought to the surface approximately 11 minutes after the Boat Driver initially requested emergency assistance. When the victim was brought to the surface, the air regulator was not in his mouth and he was noticeably cyanotic and unresponsive. The victim received immediate medical attention on the Rescue Boat and while en route to a regional trauma center, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. The cause of death was listed as drowning. NIOSH report. -
1999 7 11 Imajo Hiroshige Japan S/S Air Aged 32, diving off the vessel 'Sumitoyo Maru' in Osaka, apparently killed in the water after being hit of the head by his deck mounted air compressor that was pulled off the deck by a tight airline. May have been a lightweight hookah system, no other details. AxccessMyLibrary.com -
1999 3 12 Tyre Shelley Tortola SCUBA American recreational diver aged 46, headmistress of a private school in Massachusetts, expert diver. Married David Swain in 1993. Federal prosecutor in Rhode Island wrote that there was "overwhelming circumstantial evidence proving that Swain murdered his wife�, evidence included Swain's "unusual behavior" after Tyre's death, his alleged financial motivation and the condition of Tyre's scuba equipment, which experts suggest "indicate that a violent struggle took place under water." A lawyer for Tyre's parents argued Swain killed his wife for money and had been involved in a romantic relationship with another woman. He said Swain knew he would not have been entitled to any money if he divorced his wife because of the couple's prenuptial agreement. Alleged that Swain cut off her air supply and held her in the water until she drowned. -
1999 1 11 Glazzard Robert UAE Oceaneering Topsides British, aged 28, missing overboard at night from Seabulk Hercules along with New Zealand dive tech Aaron Harper/Aaron Hopa. Suspected garrotted and dead before in the water. Stories of drug smuggling/debts, open verdict, no conclusion. -
1999 0 0 IMCA SF 01/99 IMCA Multiple diver and ROV lifting incidents reported, IMCA Safety Flash, SF 01/99 -
1999 0 0 IMCA SF 07/99 IMCA Alert regarding inland/inshore diving contractor with divers using forged UK HSE diving and medical certificates. IMCA Safety Flash SF 07/99 -
1999 0 0 Lilly Scott USA Global American, kidnapped in Nigeria, he was released and then returned to America where he was attending LST training when he was admitted to hospital in Lafayette and subsequently died of malaria. Reported on Offshore diver website -
1998 12 8 Not Recorded South Korea North Korean Navy Diver Dec. 18, 1998 - South Korean navy sinks submersible North Korean spy vessel on east coast. A scuba diver from the North is found dead. Unfree Media/China Daily. (NB This report is quoted in various sources, the Commando (July 1998) is less widely reported. They appear to be different incidents. TC) -
1998 12 7 Not Recorded USA Commercial diver working on a propeller at Continental Lime, Tacoma, critically injured, taken to hospital, no details -
1998 11 13 Not Recorded Canada RCMP A police diver was drowned in Cambridge, Ontario when he was trying to recover the body of a boy who drowned. The name of the officer has not been released. No other details. Reported by CBC News -
1998 10 12 Not Recorded Tunisia Adriatica Subsea Services 75 S/S Mixed Gas Spanish, aged 33, Bounce diving, Galeazzi type bell, (no DDC, decompression done in the bell). The day before had passed out in the water, recovered by the bellman. Passed out during locking out, recovered dead. Ill fitting unisuit reported as a contributory factor -
1998 9 9 Randolph Jamison Lee USA Aged 24, reported as a commercial diver having died on a boat offshore Louisiana. No details. Lexington Herald-Leader -
1998 8 19 Paterson Kenny UK Fathoms Ltd. 61 SCUBA Paraphrased from press reports:- “Diver sacrificed his life to save a colleague as he continued his 15-year quest for the wreck of the Finnish freighter ‘Joanna Thorden’. The freighter sank at the notorious Pentland Skerries in the Pentland Firth during a storm in 1937, reputedly carrying copper ingots (and possibly even silver bullion). Gary Connor, a director of Wick-based Fathoms Ltd, was diving with Kenny Paterson, aged 34, on August nineteenth 1998. As they searched at a depth of 200ft (nearly 40ft more than the legal limit for commercial scuba divers), Kenny Paterson suffered symptoms of the bends and Gary brought him to the surface. Gary also suffered the bends but after treatment contracted septicemia and died in hospital in April this year. The sheriff returned a formal verdict on the medical cause of death and noted Fathoms staff originally told the Health and Safety Executive it was a recreational dive and outwith their scope of inquiry�. Reported in the Scottish Daily Record & Sunday. The FAI notes that Gary Connor died at Caithness General Hospital on the April first 2000, 20 months after the accident (cerebral anoxia, spinal bend, quadaplegia leading to tetraparesis and septicaemia), that SCUBA equipment was not appropriate for the diving operation, that the HSE was falsely induced into believing it was a sports dive and therefore there was no prompt investigation. He also noted that the actions of the deceased achieved the ultimately successful rescue of his colleague. -
1998 8 13 Nicolson Constable David Canada Police SCUBA Police diver searching dam for missing 12 year old boy was sucked into same sluice. On a life line but it broke (along with his regulator) when pulled by the surface crew. Drowned. Ontario Ministry of Labour investigator concluded the diver would not have drowned had the dive been conducted according to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its diving regulations and recommended charges be laid against Waterloo regional police for several offences under the act, including failing to properly plan, equip and supervise a dive of that type, but the ministry chose not to lay charges because there was not a reasonable prospect of securing a conviction (his investigation identified safe-diving practices that were not followed that night including lack of identifying and controlling the hazardous sluice, failing to use a supply of air from the surface for a dive near a dam, and limited training in doing dives near dams. Several officers argued that police dive teams should be exempt from diving regulations when they are doing an emergency rescue. Investigators argued that the rules do not distinguish between emergency dives and commercial dives because "the hazards facing divers is the same no matter what their purpose." Police officer in charge of operation said that if it had been a missing adult, the search would probably not have gone ahead at that time, 'but with a child.........' -
1998 8 11 Cranfield Walter Guam Deep Sea Technologies SCUBA Paraphrased from OSHA reports:- “San Franciso. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined a diving contractor $75,000 following the death of a diver who died from decompression sickness while working on a project to salvage artifacts from a Manila galleon which sank off the coast of Guam in 1690. After a six month investigation, OSHA cited Deep Sea Technologies, a subcontractor of The Pilar Project Ltd., for willful violations which led to the death, including failure to use two-way voice communication between a mixed-gas diver and surface crew; having no decompression chamber ready for use at the dive site; requiring employees using SCUBA equipment to dive deeper than 130 feet in sea water; exceeding the allowable service pressure on the compressed gas cylinders used by SCUBA divers, and lack of tables at the dive site which outline safe diving depths and durations. The violations are covered under OSHA's Commercial Diving Operations regulations.� The company was also cited for one less-than-serious violation for failing to notify OSHA of the fatality within eight hours. “OSHA will not tolerate this type of situation," said the enforcement director for OSHA in the western states. "This fatality could have been prevented. The employer knew they were diving too deep for the equipment they used, that they had no two-way communication, and that the tanks were over pressurized, and yet they continued to put the divers at risk, resulting in this tragic consequence." Ha also noted that another diver on The Pilar Project died in 1994, and another required emergency evacuation in 1993 -
1998 7 29 Not Recorded Turkey Chamber Turkish doctor and 2 SCUBA divers killed in blast in decompression chamber An explosion in a decompression chamber released a cloud of noxious fumes, killing a doctor and two scuba divers at a hospital, the Anatolia news agency said. The cause of the explosion Tuesday was not immediately known and officials at Capa hospital refused to comment. Associated Press -
1998 7 16 Ibrahim Lt. Cmmdr. Mohamed Arshad New Zealand Royal Malaysian Navy Malaysian Navy officer, aged 37, on a two year exchange training programme with the Royal New Zealand Navy, killed in a diving exercise at the Navy base in Auckland. No other details. Straits Times -
1998 7 13 Not Recorded South Korea Military South Korean military commanders put troops on the country's eastern coast on alert and declared a curfew in the area after finding the body of a diver who they said was a North Korean commando. The diver, whose body apparently washed up on the beach, was wearing a wet suit, goggles and two oxygen tanks and carrying a Czech-made submachine gun, a hand grenade, radio transmission gear and an underwater camera, the military said. Nearby, investigators found a cone-shaped aluminum submersible boat that could carry up to five commandos. ''Judging from the objects found, it has been proven that the dead diver was an armed infiltrator,'' said a Defense Ministry spokesman. A month ealier, a furor erupted when a South Korean fisherman caught a North Korean submarine in his drift net. The North Korean commandos on board apparently killed the crew and then themselves, but South Korean officials said that some of the commandos had recently been on South Korean soil. That incident aroused only limited outrage in the South, in part because the submarine was 12 miles offshore when it was caught in the net. North Korea said it had lost power and suggested that it had drifted south. A more serious episode occurred when a North Korean submarine ran aground on the South Korean coast in October 1996 and 19 crew members and commandos slipped ashore. Some 70,000 South Korean troops were deployed to hunt them down, and in the end all the North Koreans were killed or committed suicide except one who was captured and another who was never found. The body discovered this morning was found by a South Korean man walking along the beach near the city of Tonghae, 110 miles east of Seoul. Defense Ministry doctors examined the body and said that the man had died of a heart attack and had been dead between 24 and 48 hours. New York Times -
1998 7 0 Rig 'Glomar Arctic IV' Rig Disaster Semi Sub, explosion, 2 fatalities -
1998 6 0 Rig 'Mr Bice' USA During a rig move encountered bad weather 15 miles southwest of Grand Isle, suffered structural failure and flooding which caused the capsize and eventual sinking of the rig. In 1998, Bisso began the salvage of the rig, attempting to right and re-float the rig. A sequence of hurricanes, beginning with Hurricane Earl in September 1998, disrupted operations and caused severe damage to rig with the hull buckling and shearing off from the port bow and jacking towers, and embedding the port side in the seabed mud. Due to the damage, attempts to salvage the rig intact were abandoned and the rig was cut into 9 sections then transported away by barge. Marine Link -
1998 5 19 Blackmon Eugene USA Fire Brigade 9 SCUBA Aged 39, SAR diver with the fire department. Accident happened in the Little Calumet river undertaking a search for two victims, drowned. (A man described as being between 40 and 50 fell into the river, a man jumped in to give him aid, both drowned. The fire-fighter was trying to find the two victims). After an initial SCUBA search dive, due to zero visibility and the underwater current, the victim and his partner decided to change over to their underwater communication masks. Returned to the staging area, changed tanks and placed a 50 foot long, 4-inch round air float (rubber-jacketed fire hose) from shore to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter that had just arrived. The divers decided to remove their SCUBA gear and free float to the Coast Guard cutter using the 4-inch float as a guide and flotation device, determining this would be the easiest way to enter the boat since it did not have a swim platform. Wearing his weight belt, the victim began his free float to the boat, holding on to his Buoyancy Control Device (BCD), tank, and the 4-inch air float as flotation devices. The weight belt consisted of three 10-pound lead weights secured around his waist. As the victim was approaching the boat he lost grip of the flotation devices and instantly went under the water due to the 30-pound weight belt that he did not release. His partner immediately went down after him, free diving with just his wet suit which created a buoyancy problem and limited his dive depth. After two attempts to reach the victim, he surfaced and called for assistance from the Air and Sea Rescue divers. One diver from the Air and Sea Rescue team descended to the area where the victim went down and located him. As the victim was pulled close to the water surface, the victim’s partner grabbed him. The Air and Sea diver lost his grip on the victim while adjusting his own equipment, and because of the 30-pound weight belt around the victim’s waist, the victim’s partner was unable to hold on to him, and he descended for a second time. The victim was located and pulled from the water approximately 10 to 15 minutes later by the police rescue divers. The victim received immediate medical attention on shore before being loaded into the Air and Sea Rescue helicopter which transported him to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. Reported in the press and official records. -
1998 5 18 Johnson Grey China Oceaneering 40 Saturation Australian, "Ocean Winsertor", on contract to Hyundai Heavy Industries, Poisoned by seabed toxins (H2S, arsenic, Mercury) then circa 12 Chinese divers subsequently medivac'd. All Oceaneering divers survived, but have suffered ever since. -
1998 5 18 MacPhail Alister China Oceaneering 40 Saturation Australian, "Ocean Winsertor", on contract to Hyundai Heavy Industries, Poisoned by seabed toxins (H2S, arsenic, Mercury) then circa 12 Chinese divers subsequently medivac'd. All Oceaneering divers survived, but have suffered ever since. -
1998 5 18 Shord Mike China Oceaneering 40 Saturation Australian, "Ocean Winsertor", on contract to Hyundai Heavy Industries, Poisoned by seabed toxins (H2S, arsenic, Mercury) then circa 12 Chinese divers subsequently medivac'd. All Oceaneering divers survived, but have suffered ever since. -
1998 5 18 Skeate Martin China Oceaneering 40 Saturation Australian, "Ocean Winsertor", on contract to Hyundai Heavy Industries, Poisoned by seabed toxins (H2S, arsenic, Mercury) then circa 12 Chinese divers subsequently medivac'd. All Oceaneering divers survived, but have suffered ever since. -
1998 4 22 Rozhkov Andrei Arctic Moscow State University Diving Club 50 SCUBA First attempt at underwater exploration of the North Pole, Russian firefighter and diver with the support of the Diving Club of Moscow State University, inexplicably went limp and died minutes into a solo dive. Team members later said they'd seen mysterious spotlights and heard a deafening "sonar ping" right before his death, prompting speculation that a patrolling Russian submarine may have caused his demise. Not confirmed, Cause of death reported as heart attack). The next attempted dive at the North Pole was organized by the same club next year, on April 24, 1999, and was successful. The divers were Michael Wolff (Austria), Brett Cormick (UK) and Bob Wass (USA) -
1998 4 16 Not Recorded USA Intercoastal Diving The diver died around 8 am while working at Duke Power's dam at lake Hickory. The divers were under contract to inspect the 70 year old dam. No details. Star News -
1998 4 9 Cook Harold USA Profession Diving and Salvage American aged 55, commercial diver running his own diving and salvage company, died offshore of the Calvert cliffs Nuclear Power plant, Baltimore, natural causes, heart attack -
1998 4 8 Wilkerson Tai USA Quicksilver International Inc 51 Rebreather Aged 41, treasure hunt dive on the wreck of the Spanish ship 'Juno' which sank 40 miles off the Virginia coast in 1802. Collapsed at depth, not breathing, sent to surface by fellow divers, heart attack. -
1998 4 8 Wright Shannon Lee USA Aged 27, commercial sea cucumber harvesting operation off the fishing vessel 'Marlin' (based in Port Angeles) in the Strait of Juan de Fuca . Apparently got into difficulties as he surfaced from his third dive of the day. No details -
1998 4 1 SI 1997/2776 UK, DAW, Diving At Work Regulations came into force with 5 associated ACOPs -
1998 2 18 Not Recorded Israel Israeli Navy SCUBA One of two divers roped together conducting a mine search under an Israeli cargo vessel, the Zim Adriatic, in Haifa Bay. Reported as being “sucked into one of the ship's propellers, which had been mysteriously turned on�. -
1998 1 16 Woods Damon UK SCUBA Aged 25, from Aukland, New Zealand, had joined the Ullapool based fishing Vessel "Our Hazel' 10 days previously. Only had sports diving qualifications, dived under the vessel to clear the propellor at sea, went down with rope, rope came to surface, diver diasppeared, large SAR exercise but body not recovered. 'At work, employed, diving, died' so included in list, but not qualified, not actually employed as a diver, not a 'diving project' but another example of a 'working diver being killed'. Vessel owner fined just £400 under the HASAWA (person was an employee, sprecifically was not self employed). Inquest in Stornoway in August 2000 described the voluntary dive to clear the propellor, surface rope ttached to SCUBA cylinder with a bowline, as he entered the water he lost a fin and then kicked off the other, came to the suface calling to be pulled in, sank, rope was pulled in but knot came undone, diver was never seen again. Herald Scotland. -
1998 1 0 Rig 'Rigmar 151' West Atlantic Jack Up, ex 'Neptune Gascoigne' (lost her legs in Brazil in 1983). Sank -
1998 0 0 IMCA SF 02 98 IMCA Topsides On deck fatality during lifting ROV equipment on a drilling rig (failed webbing strop). IMCA Safety Flash SF 02/98 -
1998 0 0 IMCA SF 02 98 IMCA S/S Air Diver unconscious in the water, recovered to deck and recovered OK. Due to contamination by overheating dehumidifier on the HP compressor air inlet putting fumes into the diver's breathing gas. IMCA Safety Flash SF 02/98 -
1998 0 0 IMCA SF 03 98 IMCA Topsides Lifting wire failure during ROV recovery,the ROV fell onto the gunnel and tumbled onto deck. No injuries. IMCA Safety flash SF 03/98 -
1998 0 0 IMCA SF 03 98 IMCA Saturation Crane boom failure, it fell into the sea and killed a diver working on the seabed.. IMCA Safety Flash SF 03/98. This safety flash relates to the Japanese saturation diver killed on the Kurushio I heavy lift barge in the Bongkot field in Indonesia in 1997. Incident details noted above in 1997 (TC) -
1998 0 0 IMCA SF 04 98 IMCA Topsides ROV LARS failure during launching operations. IMCA Safety Flash SF 04/98 -
1998 0 0 Levi Sgt. Yuval Israel IDF SCUBA “12 years ago, the unit suffered personal tragedy caused by exactly this type of an incident. Sgt. Yuval Levi (dec.), who at the time was a diver in the unit, went with his partner on a routine mission to check a merchant vessel which has requested to anchor in the Haifa port. After descending into the water, the vessel activated its propellers, and Sgt. Levi was killed. His partner in the mission was saved� Quoted in an IDF article in August 2020 -
1997 11 20 Carriere, RCMP Constable Joseph Francois "Frank" Canada RCMP 10 SCUBA Aged 41, Cape Breton, part of a police team carrying out a drugs search on the hull of a Danish registered bulk carrier (The "Donia Portland", beam 80', length 450') at little narrows on the Bras d'Or akes (Cape Bretn). 5 man diving eam, zodiac and spotter, on AGA masks with micom comms. Ran out of air, tried buddy sharing, got separated, lost in bad visibility, body recovered the day after. Drowned. Leaking mask, gauge 'over-reading, possible contaminated air. RCMP prosecuted and fined. Now they use S/S equipment. Halifax Chronicle. Canadian Coastguard vessel ("CCGS Constable Carriere"), launched 2013 is to be one of nine vessels named after fallen Canadian heroes. -
1997 10 15 Smith Joseph Michael USA SCUBA Aged 34, professional sea urchin harvesting off Swan Island. Failed to surface, body recovered by other crew members. Initial investigation led to USCG issuing a warning to divers regarding contaminated air. This was later ruled out. No further details. -
1997 9 17 Courcoux Dave UAE Crushed by an 'A' Frame -
1997 9 12 Kielty Steve USA Magone Marine SCUBA In September 1997, a 47-year-old experienced commercial diver on an underwater pipeline construction project, who had made no dives during the previous 2-3 years used scuba gear while attaching a mooring line to a buoy anchor line. The equipment was not in good condition, and both the primary and alternate regulator were leaking and in need of repair. Shortly after he submerged, the tether line floated to the surface. After he was signaled without response, the team leader put on scuba gear, submerged, and found the diver on the sea floor with a weight belt on and both tether line and tank high-pressure hose severed. The diver was recovered, and CPR was unsuccessful. The investigation did not determine how the hose was severed, and the cause of death was listed as drowning. OSHA cited the employer for violations including inadequate training in using tools/equipment and in CPR, absence of a ready standby diver, diver not line tended, lack of a reserve tank, and rescue not conducted in a timely manner. NIOSH review of occupational diving fatalities in Alaska -
1997 9 10 Mahady John J USA City Employee SCUBA Aged 39, Two Harbors City employee, described as an experienced diver, apparently had trouble as he was working to attach a buoy to mark equipment near a municipal water intake pipe just off shore in Lake Superior. Drowned. No details -
1997 9 3 Gouyoumjian Gevog USA Underwater Services SCUBA American, aged 25, died inside a 480,000 gallon water tank in La Place, Louisiana, somewhat weirdly described in one report as “presumed hypothermia/severe dehydration� -
1997 9 2 Loader Scott Marc Singapore From New Zealand, died in a diving accident whilst working on the hull of the vessel 'Sebastion Tong By' No other details, Straits Times -
1997 9 0 Not Recorded USA Two Harbours, Minnesota, Lt in the Fire Department, died while conducting commercial diving work for the municipality, presumed heart attack -
1997 8 0 Pickering Stephen UK SCUBA Aged 41, disappeared while salvaging cargo from a wreck off the Dorset Coast. His remains were recovered by a Dutch trawler in 2009, he was cremated in May of 2010 and his ashes laid to rest in the North Sea. Inquest held in September 2010 was told that a combination of heavy equipment and distress contributed to the death of the experienced diver on a salvage expedition on a sunken First World War ship carrying precious metals off the Dorset coast 13 years previously. “He was diving with new, heavier gas cylinders and ignored advice from fellow divers to ditch his weight belt before entering the water to make him lighter, the inquest heard. According to one colleague, Mr Pickering preferred to dive while weighed down heavily to enable him to work better in the depths of the sea. One of the four-strong team on the salvage vessel Marja said Mr Pickering appeared distressed after losing his mask when he jumped into the sea. After returning to the surface, they threw him a replacement, but despite falling a short distance from Mr Pickering, he made no attempt to grab it. They then threw a piece of rope into the water in the hope that he would reach for it. "He tried to grab for it and that's the last I saw of him." The pathologist said a cause of death could not be determined. "This would appear to be a combination of the loss of the dive mask coupled with the excess weight, which would have ended up with someone who has a degree of hypoxia through over exertion which has precipitated his collapse under the water." Dorset Police found nothing suspicious about the circumstances of the death: “The statements from the men, plus the disclosure of the new, heavier cylinders and the buoyancy problems Mr Pickering experienced, led to the conclusion that his death was an accident. Recording a verdict of accidental death, the coroner said: "I am satisfied with the accounts given by the experienced divers. "I will, on the evidence I have heard, rule out any suspicious circumstances." Yorkshire Post -
1997 7 23 Not Recorded Singapore A shark attacked a diver doing underwater work at a Tuas Wharf "almost bit his arm off". No other details. Straits Times -
1997 7 8 Kwan Lee Hon Singapore SCUBA Aged 31, Last seen entering the water at berth K14 at Keppel Terminal to clean the hull of a ship. Body recovered the day after. No other details. Straits Times -
1997 7 4 Tuomey Garry USA Sports diver SCUBA Aged 42, sports diver, drowned after becoming incapacitated from breathing carbon monoxide. Compressor filter (carbon) had exploded at the SCUBA shop, the burning carbon had contaminated his air cylinder. The shop replaced the broken filter but did not drain the tanks. Explosion reported as due to 'spontaneous combustion ignited in part by pressurised oxygen' The medical examiner ruled the death accidental and investigations closed because no state laws were violated'. St Petersburg Times -
1997 6 25 Cousteau Jacques-Yves France Explorer Legendery diver, inventor (with Emile Gagnan invented the first open circuit SCUBA demand valve in 1942-1943) , ecologist and subsea explorer, died aged 87 at his home in Paris -
1997 6 20 Not Recorded USA Fireman SCUBA A veteran firefighter died Friday following a routine scuba practice dive in Lake Michigan, fire officials said. [The diver], 46, a firefighter for 17 years and an experienced member of the Air-Sea Rescue Unit, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital shortly before 5 p.m. according to fire department spokesman Patrick Howe. That was about an hour after [the diver] went out on a routine practice dive with [another team member] about 25 feet off Meigs Field, where the water temperature was 62 degrees. ``[The team member] noticed his partner was moving rapidly to the surface,'' said Howe. The member followed [the victim] to the surface, where the victim removed his mask. Other firefighters brought [him] to shore and administered CPR, Howe said. At that time, the victim did not have a pulse and was not breathing, Howe said. Paramedics were subsequently called and administered advanced life-saving techniques before transporting the victim to the hospital, Howe said. [The team member] also was admitted to the hospital as a procedural step and was listed in good condition. An investigation into the cause of [the diver’s] death was underway. ``We don't know if it was an equipment failure, or a heart problem, or what,'' Howe said, adding that the divers were wearing the proper equipment. ``We can't speculate right now.'' An autopsy will be conducted Saturday. Fire officials also said they would examine the scuba equipment being used by [the diver] for any potential malfunctions. [The diver] is survived by a wife and two daughters, ages 13 and 16. Chicago Tribune -
1997 6 19 Not Recorded USA Police 18 SCUBA Quote:- “Two Milford police divers were injured, one critically, in a diving accident during routine training drills in Long Island Sound, authorities said. The officers, ages 34 and 41, apparently became entangled in debris around noon on Wednesday, said a police spokesman. One was submerged at least eight minutes and had no pulse when fellow divers pulled him from the water. He was in critical condition at Norwalk Hospital early this morning. The other officer freed himself, and surfaced to get help, but came up too quickly and suffered from decompression sickness, commonly called the bends. He was in serious condition early this morning also at Norwalk Hospital. Both divers were among eight officers performing routine training about two miles off the mouth of Milford harbor. Police said the divers were training in murky water about 60-feet deep. Visibility was less than a foot. ``This is the first mishap the dive team has ever experienced,'' the spokesman said. The team has been in action at least 25 years. Both men have been dive team members more than five years News Times regional News -
1997 5 22 Rayment David William Canada Working at Ganges Harbour on Saltsprint Island (Between Vancouver Island and the mainland), died, trapped underwater, pinned against the broken wharf he was working on by his collapsed crane. Awarded the Medal of Bravery for his part in trying to save people trapped under an overturned boat in 1993. His best friend said:- "It's ironic he was killed in the same situation, by being trapped underwater". -
1997 5 21 Little Jim USA Acadiana Divers Chamber American, died during surface decompression, smoking inside the DDC, chamber fire. Reported in the press simply as:- “On Sunday, a professional diver undergoing decompression on the dive boat 'White Dove' was killed when the chamber caught fire, the Coast Guard said� Reported in the Orlando Chronicle -
1997 5 19 Kassim Aminnuddin Che Singapore Aged 41, one of two experienced divers (the other diver was Salleh Kudin) killed clearing debris from the cooling inlets of the petrochemical plant at Pillau Ayer Merbau on the same afternoon. Differential Pressure incident but no details. Straits Times -
1997 5 19 Kudin Salleh Singapore Aged 41, one of two experienced divers (the other diver was Aminnuddin Kassim) killed clearing debris from the cooling inlets of the petrochemical plant at Pillau Ayer Merbau on the same afternoon. Differential Pressure incident but no details. Straits Times -
1997 5 0 Lewis Brent R GOM American, jetting under a Casino barge (Isle of Capri) in Shreveport, no bailout, hose severed (pulled into pump inlet) ditched hat, drowned -
1997 3 18 Mestaz Charlie "JR" USA Yakima Fire Department SCUBA American, aged 37. One of a two man (Hauber) fire team trying to rescue two divers (Rhode/Eberle) from a 2210 long, 13 foot diameter irrigation tunnel, their lights were seen returning to the entrance but they failed to surface, they were pulled out by two stand-by divers. They had run out of air, died in hospital three days later. Qudruple fatality (Rhode, Eberle, Hauber) -
1997 3 15 Eberle John USA Roza Irrigation district 30 SCUBA America, aged 41, employed to remove cars from 2210 feet long, 13 foot diameter irrigation canal tunnel "syphon", trapped by flowing water, ran out of air, drowned. Two man team, no stand-by divers/equipment. Two firemen died trying to rescues them, quadruple fatality (Rhode, Hauber, Mestaz) -
1997 3 15 Hauber Rusty USA Yakima Fire Department SCUBA American, aged 34, One of a two man (Mestaz) fire team trying to rescue two divers (Rhode/Eberle) from a 2210 long, 13 foot diameter irrigation tunnel, their lights were seen returning to the entrance but they failed to surface, they were pulled out by two stand-by divers. They had run out of air, drowned. Quadruple fatality (Rhode, Eberle, Mestaz) -
1997 3 15 Rhode Marty USA Roza Irrigation district 30 SCUBA America, aged 33, employed to remove cars from 2210 feet long, 13 foot diameter irrigation canal tunnel "syphon", trapped by flowing water, ran out of air, drowned. Two man team, no stand-by divers/equipment. Two firemen died trying to rescues them, quadruple fatality (Eberle, Hauber, Mestaz) -
1997 3 10 Helton Eric J USA Subaqueous Services 4 Aged 20, dredging a dock using a hand-held suction hose on the lighthouse Point Canal, Broward, trapped and buried under 12' sand and rock, body recovered 24 hours later using twin water jets, reported in the Miami Herald. -
1997 3 0 IMCA SF 01 97 IMCA Topsides ROV technician lost fingers during an on deck maintenance operation, IMCA Safety Flash SF 01/97 -
1997 2 0 Schroeder Robert West Indies, Barbados Strongwork Diving (USA) for Healey Tibbets 37 S/S Air Aged 50. Sewage outfall installation at Queen Ann's Fort, diving off Needhams Point. He was the diving supervisor and dived to check work progress on pipeline in trench. Came out of trench and tide pulled him from 120' to 50' . He grabbed the downline but complained of feeling unwell on stops. Brought to the surface climbed 15 foot ladder ( no cage) and collapsed on deck. Put into chamber unconscious, not breathing and with blood on lips. chamber tender managed to resuscitate him at 165' in chamber. Doctor (SCUBA) arrived and made decision to bring up to 60 feet. Diver started to have difficulties breathing - breaths  became shallower and shallower until stopping - diver died at 60 feet'. Cause of death: reported as suspected pneumothorax with CNS complications, due to uncontrolled ascent from 120’. Personal communication -
1997 0 0 Broom Stephen UK Stolt Comex Seaway Saturation Everest field, bell contamination by condensate flashing off (See IMCA SF 02/97) -
1997 0 0 Cruikshank Paul UK Stolt Comex Seaway Saturation Everest field, bell contamination by condensate flashing off (See IMCA SF 02/97) -
1997 0 0 Edmonds Graham UK Stolt Comex Seaway Saturation Everest field, bell contamination by condensate flashing off (See IMCA SF 02/97) -
1997 0 0 IMCA SF 02 97 IMCA Saturation Bell contamination incident (hydrocarbon - condensate - contaminated over-suits off gassing in the bell atmosphere) IMCA Safety Flash SF 02/97. Relates to SCS incident in the Everest Field involving Stephen Broome, Paul Cruikshank and Graham Edmonds (TC) -
1997 0 0 Kurishio 1, Heavy Lift Barge, Bongkot field, Total, Japanese diver Thailand 80 Saturation 9 divers in sat, three man bell run, Barge hit broadside by large wave, roll sufficient to cause failure of the bolts connecting the crane boom to a “spindle� at the foot of the crane. The boom fell to the deck (just missing sat chambers but ripped the HRC off. HRC was not pressurized, doors closed) then fell overside taking the crushed HRC with it. Bell knocked sideways by falling jib, filled with water. The bellman emptied the bell and pulled one of the divers back in. When he tried to pull the second diver , all he got was the umbilical with bail out and mask still attached. The diver had bailed up to the surface. (The jib landed next to him, whipped by cables. (Heavy bruises on his back). He may have come across the HLC under the jib and assumed it was the bell flattened under the jib (similar colour and size as the bell), and having been trained in the Gulf where divers ditch rather than cut their umbilical, he ditched and swam to the surface where he was rescued alive. He was put in a DDC (on air) but died soon after. Fundamental cause was that the bolts on the crane had always been assumed to be in compression, not tension, and had never been inspected (specifically excluded by the certification body) . A number had previously completely failed due to corrosion. No allowance for wave motion. Reported by IMCA SF 03 98 (TC) -
1997 0 0 Not Recorded Netherlands S/S Air Umbilical snagged on lifting basket, tried to cut umbilical but prevented by steel comms cable -
1997 0 0 Not Recorded USA During 1990-1997, nine persons in Alaska died in work-related diving incidents (four were investigated by OSHA, 3 separately reported, above, TC – July 1996, October 1996 and September 1997- only one had training beyond a recreational diving certificate, and three lacked any certification. Three were harvesting sea cucumbers, three were diving to clear tangled lines or nets from fishing boats, two were conducting vessel-related activities (i.e., hull inspection and anchor attachment), and one was a U.S. Navy diver undergoing training. Six divers were using scuba gear, and three were using surface-supplied air. Three deaths were attributed to equipment failure, two to entanglement in lines or nets, one to exhaustion of air supply, and three to unknown causes. None of the divers had an adequately prepared standby diver, the three divers using surface-supplied air and one scuba diver were line tended, one diver was accompanied, and one diver carried a reserve air supply -
1997 0 0 Not Recorded UK Subsea “Mudslide, circumstances unknown� Probably double report Gary Carey fatality in August 1996, -
1997 0 0 Not Recorded USA S/S Air Florida, entrapped in soft mud, surface unable to recover diver, no st/by, possible one man crew. Probable DP incident, use of sports diver to perform commercial dive. Probable duplication/alternative report of 1995 Kevin Sass fatality -
1997 0 0 Ragot Philippe France Recreational diving organisation 9 SCUBA French diver inspecting the upstream side of a leaking valve. Got sucked in and killed.- No safety plan, victim the director of the dive organisation, recreational diving instructor - Court decided the manager of the dam was guilty -
1997 0 0 Rig 'Ranger 4' USA Jack Up, sank after breakthrough/slide into crater -
1997 0 0 Tucker John Venezuela 9 S/S Air American, Porto Cabala, Inspection dive during the salvage of the vessel "Zinnia", stopped responding to surface/line signal, stand-by found him on the bottom, unresponsive, helmet flooded. -
1996 12 15 McFadden Timothy J USA SCUBA American, aged 34, described as “a commercial diver from Ventura", died diving off the fishing vessel "Sea Worthy" harvesting sea urchins, flown to a DDC but died, Daily News, California -
1996 12 4 Engel Yair Israel Navy SCUBA OC Navy has appointed an inquiry committee to determine the cause of the mysterious deaths in a routine training exercise of two IDF frogmen, whose bodies were found yesterday in Haifa Bay 16 hours after they went missing. The two, First-Sgt. Matan Polibuda, 20, from Mevasseret Zion and First-Sgt. Yair Engel, 19, from Kibbutz Ramat Rahel, were veterans of dozens of dives. They were approaching promotion to they were 16 months in the unit and approaching their graduation into the elite Shayetet 13 underwater commando battalion -
1996 12 4 Polibuda Matan Israel Navy SCUBA OC Navy has appointed an inquiry committee to determine the cause of the mysterious deaths in a routine training exercise of two IDF frogmen, whose bodies were found yesterday in Haifa Bay 16 hours after they went missing. The two, First-Sgt. Matan Polibuda, 20, from Mevasseret Zion and First-Sgt. Yair Engel, 19, from Kibbutz Ramat Rahel, were veterans of dozens of dives. They were approaching promotion to they were 16 months in the unit and approaching their graduation into the elite Shayetet 13 underwater commando battalion -
1996 12 0 Brannigan? Norman Canada Dominion Diving Clearing a blocked road culvert in Halifax, Nova Scotia, differential pressure, name not confirmed. PC (Possibly a double report for one of the too culvert deaths reported for 1995? TC) -
1996 11 16 Rig 'Maersk Victory' Australia Apache Jack Up, built 1981 by Mitsui, Japan. Suffered fire and expolsion and damage to the aft legs from an air attack during the Iran/Iraq war (October 1986). Transferred from Australian Northwest shelf to South Australia by the Mighty Servant II in November 1996. No site survey. During pre-load with 2 metre air gap the rig listed, punch through, after attempts to jack level it was found that the legs were severely damaged. Divers were used to cut the legs free and the hull was towed to Port Adelaide. The legs were salvaged by the Dock Express 10 and delivered, along with the hull, to the Far east Levingston ship yard in Singapore for repairs. The South Australia Department of Mines and Energy Resources (MESA) undertook the investigation and determined that the immediate cause of damage was the failure of the sub-sea sediments beneath the rig. There was no evidence of structural failure contributing to the incident. The report concluded that there was a failure to fully evaluate the risks of a new drilling location, a failure to fully evaluate the geotechnical data of the sub-sea sediments with particular reference to the load bearing capacity of the sub-sea sediments, and a failure in management systems and procedures for locating the rig -
1996 10 8 Richards Jessica Anna Australia Australian Institute of Marine Sciences 10 SCUBA British, aged 19. Volunteer scientific diver, check out dive on Davies Reef, 55 miles NE Townsville. Separated from group near end of dive, low on air, surfaced and screamed for help, some delay in rescue due to fouled anchor on tender. Cerebral arterial gas embolism (CAGE). Investigation concluded inadequate system of competence and experience assessment. Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland. -
1996 10 0 Not Recorded USA 12 S/S Air In October 1996, a 32-year-old certified recreational diver with minimal experience was harvesting sea cucumbers using surface-supplied air in approximately 40 feet of water. After approximately 1 hour, the tender *** lost sight of the diver's air bubbles. The diver did not respond to a recall signal, and the tender pulled him to the surface. His air regulator was not in his mouth, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was unsuccessful. Inspection of the dive gear indicated it to be fully operational, with no obvious defects. The cause of death was drowning, but the specific cause of the incident was unknown. NIOSH review of occupational diving fatalities in Alaska -
1996 8 10 Carey Gary A UK Subsea Offshore 100 Saturation British, aged 38. DSV "Discovery", Ness subsea manifold. Crushed by wellhead blown off base by locked in pressure Mobil/Cooper Cameron were fined £175,000 and £45,000 respectively. -
1996 7 0 Not Recorded Indonesia Comex/PT Komaritim 20 SCUBA Indonesian diver, vessel sent out to confirm location of a pipeline leak, passed leak and dropped a marker buoy. As the vessel made a second pass, two divers in SCUBA jumped in with a marker buoy on a line to attach to the pipeline near the leak. (Possibly a 10"or 12" pipeline, hole was in the 6 o/c position.). While they were underwater attaching the rope, the leak stopped. It is reported – not confirmed – that the client representative was for some reason not happy that he could no longer see bubbles and radio'd the platform asking them to inject more gas. Whether true or not, the leak did restart, violently. The product was gas plus condensate. One diver was found dead tangled in the marker rope, his face virtually stripped of flesh from where the high pressure gas/condensate had blown off his SCUBA mask, the other diver did not surface, missing, his body was not located at the time (Not reported whether it was found later). PC -
1996 7 0 Not Recorded USA 1 SCUBA In July 1996, a 24-year-old commercial fisherman with no diving certification used scuba gear while attempting to clear a fishing net wrapped around the propeller of a fishing vessel. He became entangled in the net and was unable to free himself. Other crew members were unable to assist because they had no diving gear. He was retrieved approximately 3 hours later, and no attempt was made to resuscitate him. The scuba tank still contained an adequate amount of air. The cause of death was drowning. NIOSH review of occupational diving fatalities in Alaska -
1996 5 27 Loveday Julian Malaysia Aged 30 or 31, diver on the Pergau hydroelectric dam project at Kelantan, drowned during leak repair operations two weeks before he was due to be married (Not clear whether he fell off the barge or was killed in an underwater accident). No other details. Straits Times -
1996 4 27 Binney John L USA SCUBA Aged 28, research assistant at the University of Oregon, hired by the US Army Corps of engineers to inspect a 130' deep shaft at the Hills Creek Reservoir dam. With partner Lavoy went to 90' in basket, Lavoy then went to 130' to inspect the bulkhead, returned to 90' basket and both ascended to 10' and then Lavoy climbed onto the wall to remove his gear. Binney's lifeline went slack and was pulled up, no diver. Lavoy got a fresh cylinder plus pare and went back into the water, down to 90'. After he had been there about 5 minutes, surface team reported that his bubbles suddenly got larger and then stopped. Basket recovered but Lavoy was dead. Binney's body was recovered from 130' by two SCUBA divers from Portland Commercial divers who completed the inspection work the following day. Double fatality. -
1996 4 27 Lavoy Kenneth USA SCUBA Aged 22, owner of a SCUBA supply shop, hired by the US Army Corps of engineers to inspect a 130' deep shaft at the Hills Creek Reservoir dam. With partner Lavoy went to 90' in basket, Lavoy then went to 130' to inspect the bulkhead, returned to 90' basket and both ascended to 10' and then Lavoy climbed onto the wall to remove his gear. Binney's lifeline went slack and was pulled up, no diver. Lavoy got a fresh cylinder plus pare and went back into the water, down to 90'. After he had been there about 5 minutes, surface team reported that his bubbles suddenly got larger and then stopped. Basket recovered but Lavoy was dead. Binney's body was recovered from 130' by two SCUBA divers from Portland Commercial divers who completed the inspection work the following day. Double fatality. -
1996 4 15 Lesley Vincent Charles UK SCUBA Professional scallop diver in Orkney (North of Scotland). No details PC -
1996 4 0 Rig 'Jalapa' USA Jack Up, sank in a storm (Structural failure) -
1996 3 19 Fahey David M USA 27 SCUBA 31 year old professional scallop harvester, ran out of air trying to carry heavy bag up embankment from depth -
1996 3 17 Teow Yap Hock Singapore SCUBA Aged 45, checking reclamation materials earlier laid on the seabed off Pulau Sakra, 'died after losing his mask and tank'. No other details. Straits Times -
1996 3 4 Pilkington Brian USA 9 S/S Air Contaminated air, drowned Data to add, TC -
1996 2 10 Sawyer Jerry USA Professional fish farmer harvesting sea urchins off the vessel 'Wave Dancer'. Subsequent court case decided he was not an employee of the vessel owner so no liability. No details of the incident -
1996 1 0 Palin Carl UAE 18 S/S Air Apparently surfaced normally but lost consciousness, into zodiac, transferred to DDC (13 minute surface interval), at 60' no response, down to 165', partially regained consciousness, behavioural issues, sedated with valium, doctor locked in, gradual decompression, mated to a sat system two days later at 60', cardiac arrest, resuscitated but no brain stem, activity then suffered another cardiac arrest. -
1996 1 0 Rig 'Offshore Bahram' Egypt Jack Up, sank in a storm on tow in the Gulf of Suez -
1996 0 0 Noordhof Ellard Netherlands GB Diving 0 S/S Air Working off a jack up, umbilical caught on wellhead, asphyxiated on the surface -
1996 0 0 Not Recorded Japan Chamber e patient Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164. -
1996 0 0 Not Recorded Australia S/S Air Two pearl divers died as a result of carbon monoxide being sucked into the air compressor and down their air hoses. A new compressor had been installed, but the appropriate air intake pipe had not been attached because a necessary part was being repaired. The carbon monoxide came from the vessel’s engine exhaust which was situated close to the air compressor intake. NOHSC. Quoted in a Report into Work-related deaths as a result of incidents involving workers employed in the fishing industry in Australia were studied as part of a larger study of all work-related traumatic deaths from 1989 to 1992. For further information regarding work-related deaths see: National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. Work-related traumatic fatalities in Australia, 1989 to 1992. Ausinfo: Canberra, 1998 -
1996 0 0 Weir Jock Asia McDermott Negative pressure pipeline accident (incoming tide) sucked him into the pipe, body was recovered using a pig to push him out of the pipeline some 28km upstream of the accident location. -
1996 0 0 Zimmerman Frank USA Divetech? Romulus, Missouri, three man team on dam spillway, diver trapped in valve? Confusion, valve may have been operated on diver or umbilical, diver possibly crushed in valve -
1995 8 1 Rig 'Ocean Developer' Angola Semi Submersible, sank during towing -
1995 7 31 Westell Bradley UK Stena 26 Saturation British. DSV "Orelia". Shallow saturation, DP, tied off umbilical released, caught in thruster. Head injuries and multiple trauma. Supervisor fined for erasing black box tape, family awarded £104,000 in compensation, Contractor fined £200, 000 -
1995 4 0 Stephen Lamb Australia Contract diver at the BHP Newcastle steelworks, drowned, 'sucked into an underwater pipe that was not meant to be in use at the time' No details. WSWS Org., Greenleft.org.au -
1995 3 0 Not Recorded Australia S/S Air A professional diver was checking a boat mooring below the water surface and did not resurface. The diver was found on the sea bottom. It appears that the air intake hose was situated very close to the exhaust of the compressor on that dive and that exhaust fumes entered the diver’s air hose. NOHSC. Quoted in a Report into Work-related deaths as a result of incidents involving workers employed in the fishing industry in Australia were studied as part of a larger study of all work-related traumatic deaths from 1989 to 1992. For further information regarding work-related deaths see: National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. Work-related traumatic fatalities in Australia, 1989 to 1992. Ausinfo: Canberra, 1998 -
1995 2 14 Ayers Wendell USA Pacific Grove Marine Rescue One of a three man dive rescue team attempting to rescue two people from a 40' cabin cruiser that had run aground on rocks 100 yards from shore. The boat rolled trapping him against the rocks. In this case they swam to the boat so not strictly a diving incident but included in the list as this was a professional diver at work as part of a rescue group. Reported in the San Jose Mercury News -
1995 1 0 Kimche Israel SCUBA Israeli commando training dive, lost contact with partner, body recovered the day after, reported as “human error�, Jerusalem Times -
1995 0 0 IMCA International Marine Contractors Association formed with the amalgamation of AODC and DPVOA -
1995 0 0 Not Recorded Israel Naval Commando Sgt Gal Azoulay, aged 19, died during a training dive for Israeli Naval Commando in December 2009 (Simulation of combat dive in enemy port) Reported at the time as the first fatal accident in training for the unit since 1995 but can find no details of the 1995 accident in the public domain, details needed, TC -
1995 0 0 Not Recorded Canada SCUBA Diver and supervisor clearing a Culvert, penetrated 90' up a 4' diameter pipe, upstream of blockage, dislodged debris, both swept down, supervisor survived, diver trapped in rope and debris, drowned. -
1995 0 0 Not Recorded Canada 6 SCUBA Diver clearing a Culvert, upstream of blockage, dislodged debris, sucked through culvert and ejected but drowned. -
1995 0 0 Sass Kevin S GOM 6 S/S Air Jetting in a 20' deep trench from a four point barge, trench wall collapsed, two standby divers recovered him, suffocated under mud, did not respond to treatment -
1995 0 0 Webb John India CCC Saturation Salvaging concrete coated pipe lost off a materials barge in zero visibility on Bombay High, crushed between pipes during crane operations. When the incident happened, the bellman (On his first sat) was slow into the water and did not flood the bell, could not reach the diver so had to climb back into the bell to release more umbilical, diver's umbilical trapped under pipe, the bellman initially cut the divers umbilical on the wrong side of the pipe and then had to use the divers's own knife (his own knife by then being blunt) to release the diver and take him back to bell. The diver's KMB 17 side block had been knocked off, probably by impact from a swinging pipe caused by a sling coming off, and his umbilcal trappd. Pipe sections were scattered in a loose unstable pile and recovered using modified shackles hooked into the ends of the pipe sections (This method - as opposed to burning lifting holes in each end of the pipes - was adopted because 'the client wanted to speed things up and avoid damaging the pipe'. Longstreath blog. -
1994 12 11 Buckley Todd USA Puget Watermen 18 S/S Air American student at Evergreen State College aged 22, time off to earn money, harvesting sea urchins. Bubbles stopped, pulled to surface, lifeline and weight belt wrapped around airline, unconscious, respiratory arrest, hypothermia and decompression illness, died in hospital. -
1994 12 9 Robinson James USA Aged 42, commercial sea urchin harvesting vessel off San Miguel Island, at the end of a dive as he was leaving the water, attacked by a shark, major leg injuries, died in hospital. Los Angeles Times -
1994 12 5 Not Recorded Canada Diver died while harvesting red urchins in Freeman Passage, BC, from the fishing vessel 'Paul Freeman'. Transportation Safety Board of Canada marine occurence report M94W0096 -
1994 12 1 Rig 'Rowan Odessa' USA Jack Up, Leg hit a pipe (line?), damaged but repaired, 1 fatality. The rig was later reportedmissing, presumed sunk, by hurricane Rita in September 2005 -
1994 9 26 Not Recorded USA Caldive 91 Saturation High Island, Block 0376, G02754, Andarko. "A Cal Dive International diver injured his right hand when he opened a valve to flood a pipeline, and his hand was sucked to the valve due to the differential pressure. He was hung up for approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes. The nature of his injury was a cut nerve on his right index linger. To prevent a recurrence, a diffuser should be installed before operating. OCS Incidents database 1991 to 1994, page 73 -
1994 4 15 Hone Lt Cmdr Don A Guam American, aged 345, based in Seoul, Korea, on manoeuvres, diving on 5/4/1994, collapsed after surfacing, died 10 days later. Dayton Daily News -
1994 4 8 Eriksen Sgt. Morten Denmark Navy 8 Machine sergeant on the mineseeper 'Flyvefisken', reported as having died during a routine dive in Helnaes Bay. No other details. Reported by navalhistory.dk -
1994 3 23 Sirry Tarek USA Bay Diving Company SCUBA Aged 35, owner/operator of his own diving company, salvage dive off Poole Island in the mouth of the Sassafras River, Chesapeake bay. 20-25 minute dive, reported as drowned 'when he accidentally let his SCUBA tank run low on air and passed out' according to the USCG investigation. Reported by HometownAnnapolis.com -
1994 2 20 Copeland Dave USA 87 Went crazy, took his hat off, stand-by unable to control him -
1994 2 4 Stapp John Quinton USA 2 SCUBA Aged 38, surveying the Hunter's Point Marina on Lake Travis near Cat Hollow to plan repairs to its dock, diving solo, no team. No details -
1994 2 2 Dean PO Second Class Carter M USA Aged 26, from Knoxville, Tennessee, navy diver (gunners mate with SEAL Delivery Team Two) assigned to a special operations unit at the Little creek Naval Amphubious Base, afternoon training exercise in Little Creek Harbour, reported as losing consciousness underwater, was pulled from the water and transported to the diver recompression unit at Mobile Diving Salvage Unit Two, but died. No other details. Daily Press. -
1994 0 0 Walker Pat USA 24 SCUBA American, aged 24, Tightening a pipeline flange at working pressure, flange parted, gas explosion blew his hat off, body recovered some days later -
1993 11 21 Bisley Richard Australia "Pearl diver killed by a Tiger Shark off Roebuck bay, Broome" No othr details. Reported by PerthNow -
1993 11 3 Maxwell David USA SCUBA Aged 25, off Maine, less than two weeks diving experience, trying to untangle catch bag alongside rocks, caught in surf, found 20 minutes later, drowned, boat owner cited for violations of commercial diving standards -
1993 11 1 Knowles Keith B Bahamas UNEXSO SCUBA American aged 22, working for the Underwater Explorers Society , lost at sea of Grand Bahama -
1993 11 0 Rig "D. M. Saunders' Arabian Gulf Jack Up, flooded and sank during towing (caught in a storm). -
1993 9 21 Paldhe Amar India Indian Navy Surface Swimmer Diver with the Eastern Naval Command. Had just returned to duty after a 45 day leave, was the most junior member of a 4 man team involved in a helicopter exercise off Visakhapatnam, had not been trained in jumping from a helicopter, was not provided with a life jacket or quick release belt. Family initially told an SAR could not be launched because it was high tide (it was low tide at the time), body not preserved properly. Navy report states that he died of "the combined effects of shock, haemorrhage, multiple injuries and drowning". The family contest that account referring to the post mortem which reports anti-mortem injuries to his axilla and near his ear and claim negligence by his superiors. Reported by DNA -
1993 9 7 Rice Matthew USA 9 SCUBA Aged 24, off Maine, sports diver and student gathering sea urchins, first salt water dive, tender lost sight of bubbles, found on seabed 20 minutes later, drowned, boat owner cited for violations of commercial diving standards. -
1993 8 21 Not Recorded USA SCUBA Aged 21, off Maine, commercial diver/fisherman repairing vessel, skiff drifted away, diver drowned after attempting to swim after drifting boat -
1993 8 19 Costain Donald R USA SCUBA Aged 52, off Maine diving in a four man team from a 36' fishing vessel, harvesting sea urchins, heavy fog, surfaced for replacement tank, disappeared, found on the seabed after 30 minutes, drowned. Bangor Daily News. -
1993 7 6 Fassnacht James USA Police 6m SCUBA American police officer aged 42, East Orange, New Jersey. With two other divers clearing intake grill in Weequahic park lake, drowned. Another report states "James Fassnacht, a 42 year old police officer was killed in 15-18 feet of water on 07/06/93. The officer was asked to assist another officer in checking a screen on an intake pipe used for irrigating of a municipal golf course. Officer Fassnacht advised his dive partner that he was "uncomfortable". Officer Fassnacht stayed at the surface while his partner submerged to check the screen intake. After a short period of time, Officer Fassnacht indicated to an officer on the shore that he needed assistance. Officer Fassnacht grabbed a buoy that was on the surface, but the buoy did not support the officer. About fifteen seconds after the officer and buoy sank, the buoy popped to the surface but Officer Fassnacht did not. A search was begun and Officer Fassnacht was quickly recovered. CPR was initiated, but was pronounced dead a Beth Israel Hospital after efforts failed. The cause of death was ruled accidental drowning.". PSDiver.com -
1993 5 25 Masadi Singapore Indonesian, aged 29, died in an underwater explosion during a salvage operation on a shipweck. No other details. Straits Times -
1993 5 1 Not Recorded USA Police SCUBA American police officer, Missouri, attempting to rescue a canoe accident victim in a rain swollen river, swept away and drowned even though he had breathing apparatus. -
1993 3 27 Wells, USN PO Kimberley L Honduras USN American, aged 24, assigned to Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 working with a group of salvage experts from Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, , died while working to raise a sunken coastal freighter. The ship was blocking the entrance to a harbour in Roatan, Honduras. No details except that it was during underwater cutting operations. Reported in the Virginia Pilot