Jump to content

Incidents List

  1. Year Month Day Surname Forenames Location Contractor Client Depth Type of Diving Details
  2. 1973 8 28 Havlena Paul J UK Taylor Diving 98 Saturation American, aged 29. Barge "LB Meaders", "Push pull" gas system, Supply closed off while suction open, embolism, pulmonary haemorrhage
  3. 1947 0 0 Dumas Frederic France 94 SCUBA Using the Aqualung, made an air dive to 307' in the mediterranean.
  4. 1974 4 11 Barthelemy Marc G G UK Comex 93 Saturation French, aged 24. Drill ship "Havdrill". Needed rescue, drowned in bell trunking, exhaustion. Alternative report that diver had lost/restricted gas, returned to bell with umbilical around guide wire, Swedish bellman pulled in umbilical which pulled diver away from bell, British support crew, reverted to native languages, in ensuing panic, bellman cut umbilical and shut bell door, told dive control to recover bell. Body of diver draped over bell weights.
  5. 1916 0 0 USS F-4 USA 93 S/S Air US Navy divers Crilley, Loughman and Nielson dive to 304' on air during salvage of the US Submarine F-4 using an early version of the Mk V Morse and Schrader dress (Without communications) The finalised version was adopted by the US Navy 1917 and used until introduction of the Mk 12 in the late 1970s
  6. 1934 8 0 Beebe Dr. William USA 921 ADS DEEP SEA DIVER. Dr. William Beebe, the American scientist, who has established a new record for deep sea diving in his "Bathysphere" by reaching 3,023 feet. He bettered his previous attempt by 518 feet. Reported in The Western Mail, Perth
  7. 2012 9 18 Lemons Chris UK Bibby 91 Saturation DPII DSV Bibby Topaz, built 2008, Kongsberg DP system, diving on the Huntington Field template, at 22:09 RBUS DP alarm activated, 22:11 loss of DP control, divers relocated to top of template, vessel starts to drift off, 22:12 Diver 1 pulled off template by tight umbilical, diver 2 umbilical snagged and parted, 22:17 vessel 240 metres East of template, manual control established, diver 2 beacon at template, 22:34, vessel back on auto DP, 22:40 vessel back at template, diver 1 left stage, bell 18 metres from template, 22:46 diver 2 recovered to bell, unconscious, 23:04 diver 2 conscious, 22:13, BLB, 23:39 BLO. Diver 2 on bailout with planned duration of 10 minutes for between 28 and 34 minutes. Survival believed to have been due to rebreather type bailout, high ppO2 in bailout mix, probably rapid onset of hypothermia/reduced breathing rate. Diver made a full recovery. DP fault not identified/publicised, investigation ongoing. Reported in the Press and Journal, Times etc
  8. 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
  9. 1979 0 0 Sedco 1 Spain Ocean Systems International 91 Saturation 9 miles off Tarragona, Ocean Systems twin DDC and ADS IV Bell system as a surface supplied mix gas bell bounce (saturation abort) 2 man dive system, the bell was locked onto the DDC and the tube turn [trunk] clamps closed via a control panel on the Trunk and then a set [two] of locking bolts set in slots on top of the two halves of the clamps, there was a concise lock off/on procedure. Team management was less than satisfactory. Lack of team co-ordination and the attitude of “I thought that was done” was in essence the main cause of the accident by explosive decompression, dual fatality. Bell seal was broken from TUP, system came to surface in seconds. Note, another, conflicting, report indicates there were 4 divers in the system and it was being used as a saturation spread rather than gas bounce drill support with three dead on arrival at surface and one died later, (He may have partially managed to close a door. All this has come from personal e-mail communications, we need details, confirmation, names and dates, TC. Update: Date given as September 1979, but may not be accurate. Sedco drilling rig, 9 miles off Tarragona, Ocean Systems twin DDC and ADS IV Bell system as a surface supplied mix gas bell bounce (saturation abort) 2 man dive system, the bell was locked onto the DDC and the tube turn [trunk] clamps closed via a control panel on the Trunk and then a set [two] of locking bolts set in slots on top of the two halves of the clamps, there was a concise lock off/on procedure. Dive to release an AX ring. Freddie and Jimmy commenced a dive, Jimmy freaked, bell recovered and a third diver, Norman, was blown in. Jimmy calmed down and it was decided to send Jimmy and Norman down as (small) Freddie's suit was too big and he got very cold. Divers went through into the TUP and the O-ring blew and they went from 400' to surface in a few seconds. Freddie was injured (Cerebral and vestibular damage, many years treatment at Haslar and Newcastle University, still has life altering effects), but saved when hatch blew shut. Supervisor was also called Norman, may have committed suicide. No known reports - does anybody have information on this incident?
  10. 1977 10 17 Azzopardi P S UK Comex 91 Saturation British, aged 21. Semi-sub drill rig "Zephy I", ODECO, English Channel, KMD 16 helmet off (no safety pin), strong currents, bellman could not reach him, drowned
  11. 1974 8 27 Kelly Peter Norway Northern Divers 91 Saturation British, aged 27. Got a slug of pure Helium on descent, wearing a full face mask, collapsed and died, bell partner (Danny Stockes) wearing a half mask which dislodged, survived.
  12. 1974 8 27 Stockes Danny Norway Northern Divers 91 Saturation Ex Royal Marine Commando, got a slug of pure Helium on descent, knocked off half mask as he collapsed and survived, bell partner Peter Kelly, wearing a full face mask, died.
  13. 1983 0 0 Not Recorded Iraq 90 S/S Mixed Gas Inland dam diving operation, at altitude, using semi closed, surface supplied mixed gas (trimix) with comms line (No video). Client rep wanted to inspect work carried our by divers, he was only qualified to 60 metres (max air range under French regs), he was not familiar with equipment or depth. Lost control of breathing equipment during descent, was rescued and put in on-site DDC but failed to respond to treatment. PC
  14. 2011 4 19 Enriques Jesus "Chuy" Mexico 9 Aged 28 from Holbrox, Quintana Roo, sea cucumber harvesting 24 miles off Celustan, died underwater at about 14:00 hours. No details. Reported by Sipse.com
  15. 2010 10 13 Muller Travis USA Ron Perrin Water Technologies 9 SCUBA Paraphrased from press reports:- “A 28 year old diver from Arlington died at about 09:45 this morning while working inside a nearly full City of Richmond municipal above ground water storage tank in Richmond this morning. The diver worked for a contractor who was performing routine (Two yearly silt removal) maintenance on the 500,000 gallon tank, which is about 50 feet tall and was three-quarters filled with water. The diver descended into the tank in SCUBA gear (09:15) and went to the bottom (09:18) was vacuuming the bottom of it to clean it. His partner who was outside the tank on the top noticed the diver's tether line became slack (09:28). He then also put on scuba gear and went into the tank to find what was wrong. He found the man unresponsive with his mask off but started having regulator problems and surfaced. The Richmond fire Department responded and recovered the diver’s body (10:50)". Declared dead. Houston Chronicle.
  16. 2010 3 7 Sanchez Lareo Anxo Miguel Spain 9 SCUBA Aged 40, asked to free the anchor of a sports boat by the owner 'who knew he was a diver' in the River Ares Estuary at 2 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon (Galicia), failed to surface. Rescue services found his body entangled in fishing gear on the seabed. Reported by gspbuceo.com
  17. 2009 4 3 Guha Mrinal Kanti India National Diving Services 9 S/S Air Calcutta, Haldia dock complex (HDC). Clearing outer (Haldi River) side gate seal/runners. Diving partner (Halder) surfaced after 10 minutes, gasping. Guha did not surface. Standby divers found his body late in the day. Air hoses parted while they where underwater (Probably lightweight 'hookah' gear), no bailouts, lifelines. Report indicates confined space/penetration dive in zero visibility on gate runner mechanism. Reported in the Times of India
  18. 2009 4 3 Halder Meghnad India National Diving Services 9 S/S Air Calcutta, Haldia dock complex (HDC). Clearing outer (Haldi River) side gate seals/runners. Surfaced after 10 minutes, gasping. Hospitalised but reported OK. Standby divers recovered the body of his dive partner (Guha) later in the day. Air hoses parted while they where underwater (Probably lightweight 'hookah' gear), no bailouts, lifelines. Report indicates confined space/penetration dive in zero visibility on lock gate runner mechanism. Reported in the Times of India
  19. 2007 4 20 Kropidlowski Ken USA Orange County Sheriff's Department 9 SCUBA Orange County Sheriff's rescue diver rushed to a hospital with leg injuries after becoming entangled in a sunken sailboat while searching the wreckage for its missing owner. 18-year veteran of the department and a member of its dive team, he was 30-feet deep off a jetty in Newport Beach when he got tangled in debris about 11 a.m. and made an emergency ascent, "He was in extreme pain and had to be assisted onto the boat," ."He was rushed to harbor headquarters where an ambulance was waiting to take him to Hoag Hospital.He was treated for a torn ligament, his leg placed in a splint and released from the hospital on crutches, The 10-member dive team failed to find any trace of missing Phoenix boater William Eugene Ott during a two-hour search of the 30-foot sailboat.
  20. 2007 2 7 Alvarado Martin USA State water dept 9 SCUBA Employee of the State water dept, part of a volunteer team of approx 12 divers who inspect/maintain the water system, died in an aqueduct, Dos Amigos pumping station, 5 mph current, tethered together, reported as not sucked onto the inlet grating, but no explanation, double fatality (Crawford) fined $16,120 for the two deaths
  21. 2007 2 7 Crawford Tim USA State water dept 9 SCUBA Employee of the State water dept, part of a volunteer team of approx 12 divers who inspect/maintain the water system, died in an aqueduct, Dos Amigos pumping station, 5 mph current, tethered together, reported as not sucked onto the inlet grating, but no explanation, double fatality (Alvarado) fined $16,120 for the two deaths
  22. 2006 11 23 Johnson Chris USA Veolia 9 S/S Air MMS report dated 31 Jan 2006 (typo?) published 4/4/2007 (See 2006 GOM MMS.doc) Block ST 300 (South Timbalier platform), at 19:50 hours, Underwater Oxy Arc explosion, knocked unconscious, facial lacerations, chipped tooth, sore ribs. Evacuated to Terrebone General Medical Centre, stabilised, kept in overnight, released 10:50 hours 26/11/2006. "Will be out of work for three weeks" 'No violation" (MMS report) but diving medical revoked, may not ever dive commercially again (OD).
  23. 2002 12 10 Not Recorded USA 9 S/S Air The dive-boat crew said the diver had been diving for sea cucumbers at a depth of about 30 feet in Canoe Cove near Cedar Point off Metlakatla Island. The diver was the only man in the water when the accident occurred. Just before the accident took place the weather was overcast with winds of approximately 15 knots. However, after the diver had been in the water about 30 minutes, and receiving air through an air hose connected to an on-board compressor, the weather suddenly turned and strong winds, estimated at more than 50 knots, developed. The anchor began to drag, forcing the vessel toward the rocky shore, so a crewman tugged on the air hose line, signalling the diver to abort the dive. But the diver tugged back, indicating his desire to continue his quest for sea cucumbers. A short time later, worried that the vessel was getting precariously close to the rocky shore, the crewman again tugged on the air hose. This time, the diver failed to signal, nor did he surface. Shortly thereafter, the air hose line became taut, indicating the possibility of a problem with the airflow. About five minutes had elapsed since the crewman had signaled the diver to surface, so a crew member immediately donned his dive suit and entered the water. He was too late. The diver was found underneath the vessel, unconscious, his diving mask pulled from his face. He was pulled from the water and CPR applied immediately. Medical technicians arrived shortly and they administered advanced CPR and life-saving measures, also to no effect. There was no evidence of foul play and the diver's death was deemed an accidental drowning. According to the Metlakatla sergeant, the diver had a cut on the bridge of his nose and what appeared to be a bump near the back of his head, suggesting he may have hit his head on the dive boat's keel or a rock. An examination of the dive equipment was conducted and everything appeared in good condition. USCG Report.
  24. 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.
  25. 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
  26. 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.
  27. 1996 3 4 Pilkington Brian USA 9 S/S Air Contaminated air, drowned Data to add, TC
  28. 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.
  29. 1985 3 26 Workman Jim USA 9 S/S Air American, aged 29, umbilical cut by passing boat propeller, drowned
  30. 1984 2 21 Bowmar Dave UK Subsea Offshore 9 Chamber Experienced air diver. Aberdeen, Chamber dive, low O2, Anoxia, Double fatality (Tom Mackey). Welding trials, Initially reported as nitrox dive and that techs put CO2 on line instead of O2 during decompression, then reported to have been at the start of an air saturation at 30', but was most likely 'just' an air dive. LP air compressor was putting out too high a pressure (divers on AGA masks) and in order to adjust the pressure, the technician turned off the supply to dive control, supervisor switched to HP gas quad and then back to LP once the compressor was back on line, but divers were unconscious. Chamber surfaced, Tom Mackey dead on site, Dave Bowmar died in hospital. HP gas quad (pink but labelled “21% oxygen�) was actually virtually pure Nitrogen (gas in quad not analysed, panel O2 analysers not on line). Glasgow Herald
  31. 1984 2 21 Mackey Tom UK Subsea Offshore 9 Chamber Aged 28, Ex Glasgow shipyard welder, welding instructor for Subsea Offshore. Had just completed air diver training and was hoping to go offshore as a welder/diver. Aberdeen, Chamber dive, low O2, Anoxia, Double fatality (Dave Bowmar). Welding trials, initially reported as nitrox dive and that techs put CO2 on line instead of O2 during decompression, then reported to have been at the start of an air saturation at 30', but was most likely 'just' an air dive., LP air compressor was putting out too high a pressure (divers on AGA masks) and in order to adjust the pressure, the technician turned off the supply to dive control, supervisor switched to HP gas quad and then back to LP once the compressor was back on line, but divers were unconscious. Chamber surfaced, Tom Mackey dead on site, Dave Bowmar died in hospital. HP gas quad (pink but labelled “21% oxygen�) was actually virtually pure Nitrogen (gas in quad not analysed, panel O2 analysers not on line). Glasgow Herald
  32. 1974 6 12 Doigne Colin Australia Yarra Harbour Trust 9 S/S Air Aged 37, former Royal Navy Diver, One of a team of three divers undertaking routine maintenance to beacon marking the entrance to the mouth of the Yarra River, choppy water, his air hose got entangled with his support vessel propeller. Reported as dead before he could be recovered to the surface. Survived by his wife and two daughters aged 12 years and 4 months. The Age.
  33. 1962 4 17 Ingram Petty Officer John Australia Military 9 SCUBA Aged 24, experienced diver, died on a moorings inspection dive in Sydney harbour, failed to respond to signals, was found by searching divers, brought to the surface unconscious, did not respond to treatment, no details. He was one of the team who made a 300' dive to clear a tunnel in the incompleted Eucumbene dam in 1961. Reported in The Age
  34. 1949 4 30 Burnett George E USA 9 Aged 20, professional kelp fisherman with two years working experience, diving off San Pedro Pier, body recovered from under a rock ledge, drowned, no other details. Los Angeles Times
  35. 1948 4 23 Christiansen Edward USA 9 S/S Air American, aged 49, in the Kill Van Kull, a channel in the bay between Staten Island and New Jersey, cutting a telephone cable trench, it collapsed trapping him completely by cave in for three and a half hours, guided rescuers by phone. Rescuers largely a USN diving team. During the rescue had to flag down a passing tug and send it to a nearby dredger to tell not to set of underwater explosives. St Petersburg Times.
  36. 1945 10 4 Davis Basil USA 9 S/S Air Aged 42, from Chicago, working in the Mississippi River near Burlington (Iowa) laying a pipe along the river for the Municipial Water Company. Signalled to the surface for them to lower the piling hammer, stopped responding to signals at which stage another diver was sent to assist, apparently killed by the pile driver, broken neck, crushed chest. The Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa.
  37. 1937 10 27 Bell James Australia Commonwealth Film Pty 9 S/S Air “DEATH OF DIVER. Tragic Circumstances�. CAIRNS. October 27. “James Bell, aged 39 employed as a diver for Commonwealth Film (Pty.) died suddenly at Green Island this afternoon, while engaged on film operations (They were filming 'Typhoon Tresure"). He was in a diving suit, being filmed in about 30 feet of water. As no replies to signals were received, he was immediately pulled to the surface. On removing the helmet, he was found to be dead. The body was brought to Cairns on the Yarrabah comission launch. As far as can be ascertained, his only relative, Mrs. Fowkes, supposed to be his mother, is at Wattleglen, Victoria. Reported in the Townsville Daily Bulletin, Qld. NB 'Typhoon Treasure' is a 1938 Australian adventure film directed by Noel Monkman set in New Guinea although shot on the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland coast. It was Monkman's first dramatic feature film after several years making documentaries. The plot involves Alan Richards as the sole survivor of a pearling lugger which has been shipwrecked on Pakema Reef during a typhoon. He sets out to recover some pearls which went missing in the wreck, crossing through the jungle and fighting headhunters. While filming underwater scenes on Green Island in October, one of the divers, James Bell, died of myocarditis. Bruce Cummings, who was in charge of underwater photography, went down in a diving cylinder, followed a few minutes later by Bell, who was his assistant. A few minutes later Cummings noticed something was wrong with Bell. When they brought him to the surface he was dead. An inquest was later held which found no negligence
  38. 1935 12 5 Miyao Ichitaro Australia Morey & Co. 9 S/S Air BRISBANE, Saturday. — When the pearling lugger ‘Aldinia’ reached Thursday Island today she had on board two iead men. They were a Japanese diver, Ichitaro Miyao, 35, and a Mapoon native, Sammy Myquick, 17. The lugger was working at Warrior island with the diver down five fathoms. When no signals had been received for some time the captain went down and found Miyao dead in his driving dress. As the lugger was returning to Thursday Island Myquick was found dead in the hold. 'The Government officer at the island found that the diver had died from heart failure, while the aborigine had been poisoned by fumes from a broken exhaust pipe in the engine. The Mail, Adelaide, SA
  39. 1934 7 21 Pederson Olaf South Africa 9 S/S Air Aged 42, diving in Table Bay from the 'Epaty' salvaging copper ingots from the hull of the 'Hypatia' wrecked on Whale Rock in October 1929. Had been doing salvage work in the are for the previous 10 years . Gave the signal to lower the sling for copper but no ingots when it came to surface. This was followed by erratic line signals 'similar to the emergency signal' and the deck crew began to recover the diver. "Ordinarily done by one man, this task necessitated the combined efforts of four, indicating that the diver was a deadweight and something was wrong. When the diver appeared at the surface, it was seen that the face glass of his diving suit, including the frame, had apparently been unscrewed and was missing. The water had rushed in and filled the suit and the diver was unconscious. A slight movement of the lips was the only sign of life. Artificial respiration was immediately applied but without success. No water, it is stated, emerged from the body". Straits Times
  40. 1930 7 14 Meany Pat UK 9 S/S Air News Headline "Diver Fights a Sea Monster". Fishguard (Wales). A fight to the death between a diver under the sea and a monstrous black conger eel occurred here to-day. The man won with the aid of a hammer. a pick-axe. and a jack-knife. Mr. Pat Meany, a diver who is preparing the foundations of a slipway at Fishguard harbour for the use of the lifeboat, was thirty feet below the surface of the water when he saw through the window of his diving helmet a monster more than six feet long and of great girth writhing towards him. The eel attacked the diver by curling itself round his legs. The man, hampered by his heavy suit and by the pressure of the water, was in danger of being thrown on the sea bottom. “I struck the creature with all my strength on the head with a hammer." Mr. Meany told me. "It went of slowly but soon returned to the attack with its mouth open in an alarmingly ferocious manner. “I took a pick-axe and pinned the eel against the rocky side of the confined space in which I was working, and then with a long knife struck it deep under the gills. “It then wrlthed slowly away, leaving a trail of blood.� Straits Times archives
  41. 1913 6 20 Not Recorded Australia Francis and Co. 9 S/S Air "A Diver Drowned in full dress". "Perth, Friday, The Marine underwriters Assiociation, Perth, have received a wire from Broome to the effect that Francis and Co.'s lugger "Myrtle Olga' had capsised and sunk off Tapper's Inlet in 5 fathoms of water. The diver, it was further stated, was drowned whilst in full dress" Reported in the Bunbury Herald.
  42. 1875 8 12 Tippett John Hicks UK 9 S/S Air EXTRAORDINARY DEATH OF A DIVER. The diving cutter ‘Sir Francis Burdett’ has arrived at Hull with the body of James Tippett, diver, aged 37, The crew have been engaged for some time in preparations to blow up the steamer ‘Shamrock’, sunk at the entrance to the Humber in 30 feet of water. Yesterday morning Tippett went down under water fully dressed, when those on the cutter felt convinced something was wrong. He was hauled onboard but was found to be dead. The glass at the front of his helmet had been broken by some means and so had let in the water. He must have been dead long before he was got on board, Reported in the Bradford Observer
  43. 0 0 0 Not Recorded USA Fireman 9 SCUBA A 41-year-old fire captain carrying out a body search with a newly formed scuba team was retrieved from 30 feet after it was noted on the surface that his regulator was free-flowing. Autopsy showed drowning, but damage occurred before or during the accident, but the description of the event is consistent with ear rupture during the descent. This dive was apparently a first open-water dive. The department team had only just completed its pool training, and was scheduled for open-water check-outs
  44. 2017 10 17 Lehner Craig E USA Police 8m SCUBA Aged 34. Buffalo Police department, Police dive team training exercise in the Niagara river off Bird Island Pier, 12:50, lifeline to surface snagged, pulled from various directions butt stayed snagged, two officers attempted to follow his lifeline down but had to cut themselves free (Reported as 12 knot current!). Slid an emergency air tank down but it would not sink, 45' USCG patrol boat arrived at 13:10, tried pulling the lifeline from other directions but the line snapped. 5 days later his body floated to the surface a mile north with 75 feet of lifeline still attached to him, still with tanks and 40lb weightbelt. Reported in the Buffalo News
  45. 2016 7 15 Pereira Fredson Leal Brazil 8m S/S Air Aged 33 from Itaituba, Pomba river in Cataguases, around 11:00, working in a trench (gold prospecting, they suck a trench through the mud to get to the river bed gravel to test for gold deposits), 100kg stone dislodged and landed on his back, found pinned under the rock, mouthpiece out, drowned
  46. 1994 2 20 Copeland Dave USA 87 Went crazy, took his hat off, stand-by unable to control him
  47. 1972 8 25 Fleming James P USA 85 Aged 25, working to salvage a 40' cement commercial fishing vessel - the 'Ferro Queen '- that sank on May 27th in 280' of water off Newburyport, reported as 'bends', unconscious in the water, brought to the surface by a fellow diver, taken ashore to Seabrook Beach in New Hampshire and transferred by ambulance to a recompression chamber at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, pronounced dead by a doctor 30 minutes after he entered the chamber. The Nashua Telegraph.
  48. 1971 11 1 Minn Hnutt UK Divcon Oceaneering 84 S/S Mixed Gas British, aged 31. Drill ship "Glomar III", "Standard gear", no bell, tangled in lines, overan dive, surfaced rapidly (suit malfunction), embolism, recompressed on air in DDC, died
  49. 2019 12 27 Galletti Wolfrang Angola Rana Diving S.p.a. / Aquatic Deepwater Sonangol P&P 82m Sat Commercial Diver 42 years old born in Trieste . Italy on December 28th 1976. Working for RANA Diving S.p.a.onboard of the SBM Installer at Block 3 in Angola , blowdown on December 23rd 2019. When bell run 011 on December 27th 2019 working at seabed around 82 m.s.w. like Diver2 was smashed between a pipe (long ~10 meters/ weight ~ 1 tone) and one DMA in a fatal accident not yet clarified . 24 days to repatriate the corpse that arrive Italy on January 20th 2020. From the autopsy made in Angola and performed in Portuguese First: Wolfrang died of a shock resulting from a thoracic trauma that compromised the aorta. On the body there are also wounds and bruises on the head, in particular on the cheekbones and on the occipital part. Second: the Angolan coroner who performed the autopsy classifies the death as "accident at work". On Tuesday 11th February 2020 forty five days after his death was buried in Trieste his Italian city. No Company or IMCA information about this fatality yet.
  50. 1985 9 25 Hadzic Hussein Croatia Navy 82 Saturation Salvage of the chemical tanker, the Brigitta Montanari that sank on the 16th November 1984 (See separate entry) carrying vinyl chloride monomer (‘VCM’, toxic, explosive and carcinogenic) in 82m water depth. Known to be leaking toxic chemicals, the only salvage resource available was the ‘Sapasilac’, Yugoslavian Navy submarine deep rescue unit. Built as the PS-12, 55 metres in length, 1,490 GRT, at the Tito shipyard in 1976. She was initially fitted out with a 600m depth rated rescue submarine (‘Mermaid IV’, 8 metres long, capable of carrying 10 personnel including crew), a three man, 300 metre diving bell that was also rated as an atmospheric observation chamber and a 30 man surface recompression chamber. Two further rescue vessels were built in 1977, one was sold to Libya, the ‘Al Munjed’, the other to Iraq, the ‘A-81’ - Sunk during the second gulf war. The later vessels had modified funnels (to reduce overheating of the hyperbaric chambers). The vessel has had the submarine and diving systems removed and was still in service with the Croatian Navy as the patrol vessel OB-73 ‘Faust Vrancic’ in 2010). During a bell run to assess the wreck of the Brigitta Montanari, the salvage vessel was moved to clear the bell from above the hull but the bell weights (suspended on chains below the bell) caught on the wreck and were ripped off causing an uncontrolled ascent the buoyant bell. The two divers who were locked out (Dragutin Siljevinac and Hussein Hadzic) were dragged to the surface by their umbilicals and although rescued from about 30 metres, both subsequently died in the chamber. The bellman (Dragisa Koprivica) spent 4 weeks in the chamber but survived and carried on a career as a diver. Centre of Marine Research, Zagreb
  51. 1985 9 25 Koprivica Dragisa Croatia Navy 82 Saturation Salvage of the chemical tanker, the Brigitta Montanari that sank on the 16th November 1984 (See separate entry) carrying vinyl chloride monomer (‘VCM’, toxic, explosive and carcinogenic) in 82m water depth. Known to be leaking toxic chemicals, the only salvage resource available was the ‘Sapasilac’, Yugoslavian Navy submarine deep rescue unit. Built as the PS-12, 55 metres in length, 1,490 GRT, at the Tito shipyard in 1976. She was initially fitted out with a 600m depth rated rescue submarine (‘Mermaid IV’, 8 metres long, capable of carrying 10 personnel including crew), a three man, 300 metre diving bell that was also rated as an atmospheric observation chamber and a 30 man surface recompression chamber. Two further rescue vessels were built in 1977, one was sold to Libya, the ‘Al Munjed’, the other to Iraq, the ‘A-81’ - Sunk during the second gulf war. The later vessels had modified funnels (to reduce overheating of the hyperbaric chambers). The vessel has had the submarine and diving systems removed and was still in service with the Croatian Navy as the patrol vessel OB-73 ‘Faust Vrancic’ in 2010). During a bell run to assess the wreck of the Brigitta Montanari, the salvage vessel was moved to clear the bell from above the hull but the bell weights (suspended on chains below the bell) caught on the wreck and were ripped off causing an uncontrolled ascent the buoyant bell. The two divers who were locked out (Dragutin Siljevinac and Hussein Hadzic) were dragged to the surface by their umbilicals and although rescued from about 30 metres, both subsequently died in the chamber. The bellman (Dragisa Koprivica) spent 4 weeks in the chamber but survived and carried on a career as a diver. Centre of Marine Research, Zagreb
  52. 1985 9 25 Siljevinac Dragutin Croatia Navy 82 Saturation Salvage of the chemical tanker, the Brigitta Montanari that sank on the 16th November 1984 (See separate entry) carrying vinyl chloride monomer (‘VCM’, toxic, explosive and carcinogenic) in 82m water depth. Known to be leaking toxic chemicals, the only salvage resource available was the ‘Sapasilac’, Yugoslavian Navy submarine deep rescue unit. Built as the PS-12, 55 metres in length, 1,490 GRT, at the Tito shipyard in 1976. She was initially fitted out with a 600m depth rated rescue submarine (‘Mermaid IV’, 8 metres long, capable of carrying 10 personnel including crew), a three man, 300 metre diving bell that was also rated as an atmospheric observation chamber and a 30 man surface recompression chamber. Two further rescue vessels were built in 1977, one was sold to Libya, the ‘Al Munjed’, the other to Iraq, the ‘A-81’ - Sunk during the second gulf war. The later vessels had modified funnels (to reduce overheating of the hyperbaric chambers). The vessel has had the submarine and diving systems removed and was still in service with the Croatian Navy as the patrol vessel OB-73 ‘Faust Vrancic’ in 2010). During a bell run to assess the wreck of the Brigitta Montanari, the salvage vessel was moved to clear the bell from above the hull but the bell weights (suspended on chains below the bell) caught on the wreck and were ripped off causing an uncontrolled ascent the buoyant bell. The two divers who were locked out (Dragutin Siljevinac and Hussein Hadzic) were dragged to the surface by their umbilicals and although rescued from about 30 metres, both subsequently died in the chamber. The bellman (Dragisa Koprivica) spent 4 weeks in the chamber but survived and carried on a career as a diver. Centre of Marine Research, Zagreb
  53. 1984 11 16 Vessel 'Brigitta Montanari' Yugoslavia 82 The Maltese flagged, Italian owned, chemical tanker, the Brigitta Montanari (Built 1975, 68 metres in length, 1297 GRT) carrying 1,390 tonnes of vinyl chloride monomer (‘VCM’, toxic, explosive and carcinogenic) sank in a storm in the Adriatic Sea on 16 November 1984 in 82m water depth 15 miles off the coastal town of Sibenik (Yugoslavia) with the loss of 3 of its 12 man crew. The sinking was attributed to a loss of stability (improperly loaded cargo, raised metacentre) following a sudden change of course. The VCM was carried in four tanks, two below deck (each 523 tonnes) and two above deck (202 and 247 tonnes). The wreck was known to be leaking toxic chemicals adjacent to the Kornati national park, an area popular with tourists. An initial salvage operation in 1985 was suspended after the death of two Navy divers (Dragutin Siljevinac and Hussein Hadzic) and injury of a third (Dragisa Koprivica) in an uncontrolled bell ascent incident (Lost bell weights) on the 25th September 1985. During successive salvage campaigns the wreck was righted (It had sunk on it’s starboard side), lifted to between 25 and 30 metres water depth (Above that depth the VCM goes from liquid to gaseous phase), and moved to a sheltered area. The VCM was then displaced by seawater and pumped into surface vessels. Following the aborted salvage using saturation divers in 1985, subsequent dives were completed using either gas bounce or air (Over 150 heliox bounce dives were undertaken below 55 metres, the dive between 30 and 55 metres were done using the same bell system on air). There does not appear to have been any follow up study on diver’s health after their exposure to VCM throughout the salvage operation. Centre of Marine Research, Zagreb
  54. 1975 0 0 Higgins? Ocean Systems 82 S/S Mixed Gas Australian. On completion of dive started doing water stops. For some unknown reason abandoned decompression routine and came to surface, refused to go back down. Surface decompression was intitiated 'from last stop' as opposed to full working depth. Died. Cannabis was reported as being found in his personal belongings but details not confirmed. OK Dude/Longstreath.
  55. 1975 0 0 Not Recorded Asia Ocean Systems? 82 S/S Mixed Gas New Zealand diver 'died in suspicious circumstances' diving off the "Fredericksburg". Rumours of a cover up. The diver was the son of a doctor in Nelson, New Zealand. No other details. OK Dude/Longstreath. (NB, Not included in the 'count' pending confirmation/details. TC)
  56. 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.
  57. 1974 12 2 Keane David Ireland 81 British, aged 17. Umbilical severed by bell movement, did not use his bale out, asphyxia/drowning
  58. 2017 1 5 Vazquez Tojeiro Jesus Ramon La Alcaidesa. San Roque. Cadiz. Spain 80m SCUBA Commercial diver 50 years old born in El Ferrol. La Coruna. Spain. Father of two with more of 26 years of diving experience. On Thursday 5th January 2017 at 11:20 a.m. emergency service number 112 received a call informing that the diver had not emerged from a solo red coral collecting dive after descending around 09:50 a.m. Actuation of Guardia Civil, Salvamento Maritimo and private companies with two ROV without success with poor weather conditions hindering the recovery operation . After several days SAR, on Saturday 14th January at 12:30pm the body was found in 80 m.s.w. and recovered by ROV at 14:30 then transported to the port of Sotogrande. Diver was using SCUBA on air.
  59. 2013 1 28 South Pars, Phase 13 Iran SADRA 80 40 million USD platform wieghing 1,850 tons being installed in the South Pars field (Phase 13) sank on site in 80 metres water depth leaving people in the water (video clip), no reported casualties. Reuters
  60. 2010 11 29 McCarthy Peter Joseph Thailand 80 Rebreather British, aged 47, diving instructor, disappeared on an 80 metre deep dive into the mouth of a submerged volcano off the Thai island of Koh Tao with a party of eight other British and Italian divers at about noon, local time, on Monday. The other instructor on the dive told Thai media that Mr McCarthy did not come up after the nine man hour-long dive. Each of the divers had two hours of oxygen. The other divers used up their remaining oxygen in searching for their instructor, reports said. The instructor was described as a very experienced technical diver - expert in a specialised type of scuba diving that uses a mix of gases to allow divers dive go deeper and for longe (Technical diving). The original diving group consisted of the two instructors, four men and three women. Mr McCarthy had a diving licence issued in the Gulf of Thailand province of Chumpon. Daily Mail UK
  61. 2002 6 25 Jelasi Cristiano Italy Tecnosub 80 SCUBA Aged 25, off the island of Capri (Thyrrenian Sea), diving in SCUBA to 80 metres, alone, off a small boat to cut ropes off a recently installed water pipeline prior to trenching operations. Died in the water
  62. 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)
  63. 2011 10 6 Not Recorded Czech Republic 8 SCUBA Aged 22, commercial diving operation to clear drainage/sewage pipes in a pond at the Lany game park (Rakovnik Lany, Bohemia), blockage gave way, differential pressure, diver sucked into a concrete sump feeding a 50cm diameter outlet pipe. Body not recovered until the day after due to the dangers of accessing the sump. Mediafax tn.cz
  64. 2011 2 12 Montecinos Juan Francisco Vejar Chile 8 SCUBA Aged 34, volunteer with the town of Chol Chol fire team, training exercise off Lican Ray, reported as having lost consciousness underwater, brought to the surface by other team members but did not respond to treatment. No further details. Reported in El Diario Austral.
  65. 2009 5 1 Pesce and Martinizi Vincenza USA 8 Topsides Ocean Hyperbaric Neurologic Centre, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, 62 year old Italian woman with her 4 year old grandson, Francesco, undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatment in a one man 'clam shell' chamber (Built by Vickers, 1967). they had flown over from Italy to get hyperbaric oxygen treatment (not available in Italy) for the boy who had cerebral palsy 100% O2 at 1.75 atm. 20 minutes into treatment, internal chamber fire. Decompressed in 90 seconds, 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 90% of their bodies, the woman died the following day, the boy died 6 weeks later. Ignition source may have been an internal speaker (no matches or electronic equipment inside the chamber)
  66. 2008 3 21 Not Recorded USA 8 S/S Air Diver's umbilical caught in lift boat propeller, pulled in 75' before umbilical severed with the diver less than 20' from the propeller. Propeller (common hydraulics with crane) not locked out. Report on OD website
  67. 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�.
  68. 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).
  69. 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
  70. 1991 3 13 Wallace Timothy USA 8 SCUBA Aged 27, from Winter Harbour, one of 4 men onboard the scalloper 'Yellow Bird' trying to raise another scallop dragger that had sunk at its moorings in Gouldsboro bay the day before. Reported as diving alone, surfaced, told his companions - which included his father - that he had found the boat and asked for a marker buoy which was thrown to him. He didn't catch it but disappeared below water at around 09:00 and did not resurface. Reported in the Sun Journal.
  71. 1975 5 16 Not Recorded USA Pacific Agar Company 8 Reported as drowned during seaweed harvesting off Dana point due to compressor failure, but no details. Los Angeles Times.
  72. 1965 9 1 Cline Robert Herrick USA Military 8 SCUBA Newspaper employee, part time volunteer diving with Sherrif of Coconino rescue unit. Hired via police contact to recover two chemical tanks from a reservoir at the Navajo Army Depot, Coconino. Arizona. No training, st/by or supervisor, third dive surfaced in distress, swimmers tried to help but he sank, plume of bubbles (twin hose) but drowned.
  73. 1921 6 17 Godfrey Damon S Canada 8 S/S Air Sault Ste Marie, city on the St Marys River, Diver's lines tangled, unable to signal surface, lost helmet seal, gradual flooding of suit, drowned. Reported in the New York Times
  74. 1875 6 7 Keith William UK 8 S/S Air "Death of a diver underwater by drowning (Special Telegram) William Keith, 35 years of age, a professional diver (Or divers labourer) residing in Torry, employed by the Aberdeen harbour board, at the point of the pier laying some moorings. Descended in his diving dress on Saturday about noon, and reaching the bottom, depth 25'..." No other details (Pay for access archive) Reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph/Dundee Courier/The British Newspaper Archive
  75. 2013 8 6 Quiroga Sergio Daniel Uruguay Belfi-Techint or Stora Enso 7m Unknown Tuesday August 6th 2013 - Uruguay. Quiroga, Sergio Daniel, 2nd Corporal, aged 40, married, three children, Uruguayan Navy Diver with 21 years in the military, 16 as a diver, subcontracted to work for Belfi-Techint (working for main contractor Montes del Plata or for a Swedish company Stora Enso - conflicting reports or maybe just one of those multi-national organisations), on construction of a new dock in Puerto de Conchilllas (region of Colonia, 240 kilometres NW of Montevideo) , depth 7 metres, lifting/shackle operation, lines entangled, trapped underwater, drowned (not clear if S/S air or SCUBA plus communication line).
  76. 1985 9 0 Not Recorded Yugoslavia 79 The Brigitta Montanari sank in a storm on Nov. 16, 1984, near the Yugoslav town of Sibenik. The vessel was carrying vinyl chloride, a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical. Two salvage divers were killed during salvage attempts in 1985. The vessel started leaking toxic chemicals in 1987. No details.
  77. 1975 8 0 Lee David "Tansy" Egypt Solus Schall 78 SCUBA British, ex RN clearance diver. Platform and pipeline inspection programme for AMOCO/GUPCO in the Gulf of Suez. Dive team increased when 'Beaver IV' (Diver lock out submarine) failed to perform. Diving in pairs on SCUBA with mixed gas to 255 feet on the Morgan 55 platform, diver appeared to let go of structure and drifted away. Body never recovered. Fatality thought to have occurred around the month of August. NB. The bad weather/wind period in the Gulf of Suez is from June to September, lump sum contract thought to have lost millions due to 'unexpected poor weather' as contract was bid expecting European style good summer weather. PC
  78. 1974 1 116 Skipnes Per Norway Ocean Systems 77 Saturation Norwegian, aged 37. "Drill Master", bell drop weights released, bell to surface with doors open, double fatality (Smythe).
  79. 1974 1 16 Smythe Robert John Norway Ocean Systems 77 Saturation British, aged 38, Aged 38. "Drill Master", bell drop weights released, bell to surface with doors open, double fatality (Skipness)
  80. 2010 7 2 Hollifield Chris USA Veolia 76 Saturation Aged 33, former US Marine, Post 'Katrina' remedial works off the 'Normand Clipper', possible u/w oxy/arc diving explosion. Standby diver was deployed and located diver unresponsive on the seabed, did not respond to treatment. No details. Survived by wife and unborn son. Personal communication
  81. 2003 12 6 Norwood Michael Palau TV 76 Rebreather British TV presenter filming a documentary in the series “ Deep Sea Detective�. Technical dive on the wreck of the second world war wreck of the USS Perry off Palau. Ran out of gas, attempted sharing, lost consciousness, failed to activate reserve, did not respond to treatment.
  82. 1991 3 24 Sugrue Jim USA AOD 76 DSV 'American Eagle' U/W explosion, face plate blown in, drowned. “Chasing Hangers after doing an inside burn-off. Paraphrased from reports:- “Chasing hangers after doing an inside burn off below the mud line, almost at the end of his bottom time (gas dive), Said 'One more burn and then I'm getting off bottom'. Topside heard a loud bang, then incoherent speech. His standby diver reached him very quickly (overshot his gas because he wouldn't stop for the switch in order to get to the diver faster) but when he reached him, the faceplate was gone and the diver was unresponsive. He was recovered to the chamber and treated but never regained consciousness. The incident led to a brief and informal moratorium on inside burn offs at AOD but they quickly resumed them when they started to lose work to other companies who did not follow suit. The final verdict the divers all heard was 'improper equipment usage' (as opposed to equipment failure) since Jim's hat (SL 17B) was old and beat up. This incident was a major factor in the introduction of the 'T' type faceplate screw anchors�.
  83. 2017 4 18 Hall Daniel USA Fisherman 75m? SCUBA Aged 36, Puget Sound, near Fox Island, commercial Geoduck diver, pulled unresponsive back onto the Squaxin island tribal vessel 100 yards offshore around 14:00 and taken to the nearby US Navy Warfare Center dock and transferred to the St. Joseph Medical Centre in Tacoma where he was confirmed as deceased. Reported in The News Tribune
  84. 2017 5 16 Robert Gregory France Fisherman 75m SCUBA Coral diver on Corsica diving off Arinella beach, Bastia, possibly a training dive to around 75 msw, released a signal buoy from depth to mark ascent point and get his friend in the boat to meet him with a cylinder of pure oxygen at his -9 msw decompression stop. He failed to ascend. His friend alerted the emergency services and initiated a search. The underwater brigade of the gendarmes located his body in 80 msw near the dive site the morning after.
  85. 2005 4 1 DLB Regina Crane incident India CCC 75 Saturation DLB Regina 250, (Valentine Maritime, Abu Dhabi). Main crane collapsed over sat system dive control, bell LARS and HLB during a two man bell run. Both video and photos clearly show the extent of the damage to the dive system with the crane boom draped over the HLB/sat system. Bell handling system rendered inoperable, divers through-water transfer to a second DSV. Reported that the Regina went to Gujerat for major repairs to the dive system/bell handling equipment and crane before returing to work a couple of weeks later. Sat dive sequence:- Dive 86:- 17:35 Bell Sealed. 17:45 BLS. 17:50 BOB, commence diver lock out. 17:52 Crane collapsed on dive system. 17:55 Bell sealed at 75m. 17:57 Divers report 'OK". 18:25 Main bell wire secured on surface. 18:30 standing by on DSV "Sevak" for through water transfer. 19:39 DSV "Sevak" on site. 20:13 After discussion between Supv/Supt of both vessels, decide to use "Regina" bell umbilicals/helmets for transfer. 21:44 "Sevak" diver established swimline to "Regina" Bell, 21:55 Diver 1 in water, 22:02 Diver 1 in "Sevak" bell. 22:14 Diver 1 umbilical and hat secured back onto "Regina' Bell by "Sevak" diver. 22:18 Diver 2 in water. 22:22 Diver 2 in "Sevak" bell. 22:44 "Sevak" diver secured diver 2 umbilical onto "Regina" Bell, 22:45, transfer complete. The second DSV was the 'Samudra Sevak" (built 1988, 11 man Comanex dive system) which was also on hire to ONGC at the time. PC
  86. 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
  87. 1976 1 17 Bannister Derek A UK Comex 73 Saturation PSV "Smit Lloyd 112", buoyant bell with the bell weights suspended underneath bell, this allowed the bell to sit on the seabed minimising the action of swell. Apparently the bell was moved and in the process the bell weights were ripped off. Bell bottom door open, uncontrolled ascent, pulmonary barotrauma.. His bell partner (Clay Ellis) died. He survived, but was very severely injured.
  88. 1976 1 17 Ellis Clay UK Comex 73 Saturation American, aged 20. PSV "Smit Lloyd 112", buoyant bell with the bell weights suspended underneath bell, this allowed the bell to sit on the seabed minimising the action of swell. Apparently the bell was moved and in the process the bell weights were ripped off. Bell bottom door open, uncontrolled ascent, pulmonary barotrauma. Died. His bell partner (Derek Bannister) survived, but was very severely injured
  89. 1938 8 24 Jotana Koheharu Australia Bowden Pearling Company 73 S/S Air 30 year old Japanese diver diving from the lugger Zamia for shell off Darnley Island in the Torres straits wearing only a helmet and corselet in 40 fathoms. His lifeline went limp and then he floated to the surface without helmet or corselet, recovered by dinghy, put back in his helmet and taken to 15 fathoms before being staged to the surface but failed to revive. "The opinion is expressed that Jotana may have been overcome by sickness during staging and was unable to keep a firm grasp of the lifeline which was the only secure means of remaining in the helmet and corselet. The cause of death was certified by the Government Medical Officer at Thursday Island to be diver's paralysis and asphyxia by drowning". Reported in The Western Australian, Perth.
  90. 2021 4 14 Dedi Indonesia 72m SCUBA From Pasir Putih village, Situbondo, Java, salvage of a slerek (Traditional Javanese fishing bost) that had sunk on the 6th April, three man dive team secured lines to the boat and it was successfully brought to the surface, diver fell ill and became unconcious, died before he reached Surabaya. Reported as DCI incident. Reported by harianbhirawa.co.id
  91. 1989 11 4 Drillship Seacrest Thailand Unocal 72 Ex 'Scan Queen', sister ship to the "Chancellorsville". Overturned in typhoon 'Gay' (Recorded as killing over 500 people and leaving 160,000 homeless in Thailand) in the Platong gas field with the loss of around 91 lives, 5 or six suvivors (very confused records). A helicopter landed two men on the upturned hull the morning after but no survivors - or indications of survivors (Tapping on the hull) were found. Oceaneering and McDermott divers recovered several bodies from inside the hull, (25 bodies recovered after the sinking in all). vessel was scuttled in 75metres water depth about three weeks later. Conflicting reports that there was an excessive amount of drill pipe on deck (therefore top heavy), that she was still connected to the welhead (though radio reports pieced together after the event indicate that the BOP was disconnected and the majority of pipe was left 'in hole' but may have left the well abandonment too late and not had time to de-anchor), or that modifications carried out in the Port of Satahip, Thailand, immediately before the storm were causal factors (addition of a heavy topdrive unit without the addition of compensating ballast and then sailing to site without carrying out inclination tests), also that the drill tower started tearing the deck plates as it rolled, peeling them back and allowing wave ingress
  92. 1974 10 15 Shields Gary Norway 72 Saturation British, aged 21. DSV "Oregis", Ekofisk pipeline, changed gas topsides, possibly lost/bad gas, entangled, did not use bale out, attempted to cut umbilical, asphyxia.
  93. 1965 2 16 Jackson Frederick 'Fred' USA Military 72 Chamber One of two enlisted divers (the other was John Youmans) killed in a flash fire in a chamber during a physiological experiment (250' for two hours) at the 'old' experimental diving unit at the Washington Navy yard (It was relocated to Panama City in 1975). Two other divers (not named) acting as tenders were treated for smoke inhalation. navydivers.net. An alternate report states that the research recompression chamber contained 28% O2, 36% He, 36% N2 at 3.8 bara (91fsw) with the most probable cause of the fire being an overheated electrical motor in the CO2 scrubber. Downstream of the motor was a filter element of the type normally used for filtering jet fuel. Following manufacture, it had beem tested with kerosene, leaving residual kerosene as the probable primatry fuel in the fire. A chamber occupant called "We have fire in here!", the two outside observers noted a flame coming from the CO2 scrubber followed immediately by a flash fire in the compartment and smoke obscuring their vision. The occupants did not have time to use the bucket of water provided as a fire extinguishant. The internal temperature rose to about 800 F, the pressure went up to 8.9 bara (260 fsw). Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  94. 1965 2 16 Youmans John USA Military 72 Chamber One of two enlisted divers (the other was Frederick Jackson) killed in a flash fire in a chamber during physiological experiment (250' for two hours) at the 'old' experimental diving unit at the Washington Navy yard (It was relocated to Panama City in 1975). Two other divers (not named) acting as tenders were treated for smoke inhalation. navydivers.net. An alternate report states that the research recompression chamber contained 28% O2, 36% He, 36% N2 at 3.8 bara (91fsw) with the most probable cause of the fire being an overheated electrical motor in the CO2 scrubber. Downstream of the motor was a filter element of the type normally used for filtering jet fuel. Following manufacture, it had beem tested with kerosene, leaving residual kerosene as the probable primatry fuel in the fire. A chamber occupant called "We have fire in here!", the two outside observers noted a flame coming from the CO2 scrubber followed immediately by a flash fire in the compartment and smoke obscuring their vision. The occupants did not have time to use the bucket of water provided as a fire extinguishant. The internal temperature rose to about 800 F, the pressure went up to 8.9 bara (260 fsw). Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164
  95. 1971 2 1 Lally Thomas "Mick" Norway Comex 71 SCUBA British (Not, as widely reported, American), aged 32. Noted as the first of 55 North Sea fatalities between 1971 and 1984 by Jackie Warner, “Requiem for a diver� (He had no knowledge of RJ Lyons death in the Norwegian sector in 1967 or the double explosion fatality in 1970 off Great Yarmouth), "Ocean Viking", surface jump in a wetsuit (SCUBA with heliox), no bell, at end of dive partner Bjorn Lilleand shivering violently surfaced 5 minutes early from 3 metre stop, put in single person cage and recovered, Lally died, drowned on surface, reported 20 minute delay in recovering him from the sea, probable hypothermia
  96. 2011 10 20 Chandra Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation Dive team ET onboard the DSV Koosha that sank during sat diving operations in the South Pars gas field, killed during the evacuation
  97. 2011 10 20 Dabbas Rajesh Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  98. 2011 10 20 DSV Koosha I Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipways as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat died plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo breaking loose, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Dive Supt., 2 supervisors, two LSTs and two ALSTs survived when the vesse sank. There were four brothers on board, the two brothers working as LSTs survived, the two brothers in saturation died with the other four divers in sat and the ET killed during the evacuation. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Times, Iranian press, PC
  99. 2011 10 20 Gaur Ajesh Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  100. 2011 10 20 Kadian Dhirendra Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation One brother (Parminder) also died in this accident, two other brothers (LSTs onboard) survived.DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. Dulam DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  101. 2011 10 20 Kadian Parminder Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation One brother (Dhirendra) also died in this accident, two other brothers (LSTs onboard) survived. DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. Dulam DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  102. 2011 10 20 Padda JS Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  103. 2011 10 20 Sharma NK Iran Adsun Offshore Diving Contractors 70 Saturation DSV Koosha I, built 1982 in Australia (By Carrington Slipays as the 'Lady Sonia') owned by Darya Koosh, Iranian marine contractor, POB 73, 60 survivors, 6 divers in sat plus 7 others lost when ship sank off Lavan Island in the South Pars field 15 miles off the Iranian coast during pipeline installation operations around 17:30 hours on Thursday 20th October in bad weather. Rumoured to be a 4 man portable sat system with additional chamber to make it 6 man but only a 4 man HRC. Ship was loaded with two cement silos for grouting operations. One silo broke loose in rough weather and slid across deck causing list, this caused a gas rack to follow, increasing list. Sat control van broke off and fell overboard followed by second silo, holds flooded (hatches open) including all below decks compartments. Sank in mnutes. Believed storage depth was 64 metres, sank in 70 metres water depth. DSV 'Providence' on site the morning after, they recovered the bodies from the wreck three days after the sinking. Sat system flooded. Details to be added following investigation. UK Telegraph, Iranian press, PC
  104. 2009 6 20 Terzuoli Joseph USA 70 Rebreather American, aged 46. Ran a wreck diving company diving from the 50' diving boat 'John Jack', took a party to dive on the WW1 wreck of the 'Texel'. Diving solo, SCUBA rebreather, apparently caught in fishing lines. Recovered by crew members. Had started diving again even though he had had a triple heart bypass in April, two months earlier.
  105. 2004 8 0 Rosenbaum Anthony USA Caldive 70 "Caldiver II", 3rd degree burns, law suit, Broco BR 22 defective manufacturing plus bad technique
  106. 1982 3 13 Anderson Doug USA 70 SCUBA American, aged 34. Had chartered the salvage barge “St Peter� out of Port Townsend and were inspecting a sunken oil barge off the West Whidbey Island for recoverable metal when Heavenor's air lines became entangled, Doug Anderson, acting as standby, entered the water to assist on SCUBA. Neither diver surfaced. Heavnor's body was recovered later by commercial divers from the tug “Constellation� which responded to distress calls.. Double fatality. Unclear if Anderson's body was ever recovered
  107. 1982 3 0 Heavnor Tom USA 70 S/S Air American , aged 39. Had chartered the salvage barge “St Peter� out of Port Townsend and were inspecting a sunken oil barge off the West Whidbey Island for recoverable metal when Heavenor's air lines became entangled, his standby diver, Doug Anderson entered the water to assist on SCUBA. Neither diver surfaced. Heavnor's body was recovered later by commercial divers from the tug “Constellation� which responded to distress calls. Double fatality. Unclear if Anderson's body was ever recovered.
  108. 1973 10 10 Coelo Dominique Congo Comex 70 SCUBA Oilfield dive. Drowned. PC
  109. 1973 9 0 Not Recorded Congo 70 Chamber Trimix bounce dive to 70 metres, three divers (Triple fatality, but names unknown). During chamber decompression stops on 40/60 nitrox at 9 metres a fire started in the DDC. Divers transferred to the lock but could not close the door because of hoses. Hoses caught fire. The divers died of asphyxia (No skin burns). Fire probably started by a book being used internally to shade an externally mounted light that was known to get very hot. PC
  110. 2012 5 5 Stoyanov (or Dimitrov) Radoslav Bulgaria Hydroremont 7 Commercial diver with 3 years expeience, from Varna, aged 29, Kozloduy nuclear power plant. inspecting a shaft between units 5 and 6, lost audio at 09:40, body recovered one and a half hours later, reported to have both audio and lifeline, no explanation for protracted recovery, death certificate states cause of death as 'myocardial infarcation' and that death was not due to an accident but due to heart disease. Rumours of a cover up, running pumps, diver being trapped by differential pressure and injuries to diver denied by authorities, circumstances unclear. Focus News Agency
  111. 2010 12 9 Perez David Venezuela Alianza Servicios Marinos del Lago 7 S/S Air Diving Contractor working for Petrolos de Venezuela. Reported as “Died whilst inspecting oil pipelines in Lake Maracaibo at 12:05 hours�. Reported by La Verdad. Another report indicates that neither the diver nor supervisor had no training certifcates and that the diver got entangled in a downline to the pipeline, lost his helmet and drowned (Longstreath)
  112. 2010 7 25 Alajbegovich Samo Italy 7 Rebreather Aged 41, Slovenian biologist working at the Piran Marine Biology centre, diving on a 'Trieste HDT' rebreather off Miramar, body located in 7 metres of water 200 metres from the beach location where his diving partner, Ziga Dorajc was pulled alive, but unconscious (He subsequently died in hospital), from the water 4 hours earlier. Reported in Slowwwenia.enaa.com
  113. 2010 5 27 Orellana Luis Alberto Romero Chile 7 SCUBA Iquique, Chile. Shellfish diver with 30 years diving experience, Luis Alberto Romero Orellana, died yesterday at 11 am in a diving accident. At the time of the incident Luis Alberto was doing scrap recovery work for a fishing company. His teammates gave notice of the accident via mobile to the Maritime authorities, the patrol vessel "Defender" and a rescue RIB/divers of Harbor Master recovered the diver's body. Diving solo, no stand-by. Reported by gspbuceo
  114. 2007 11 0 Not Recorded Egypt 7 SCUBA Abu Quir harbour, team sent to work but Supervisor decided his team were too inexperienced and decided to do the job himself. 7 hour dive. Failed to surface, found drowned. No details, though same diving contractor is reported to have had fatalities in March 2004 and October 2008.
  115. 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
  116. 1983 3 16 Pedersen Jarle Norway 7 Norwegian, aged 29, Seaway Falcon, umbilical drawn into stern thruster.
  117. 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
  118. 1981 0 0 Duke Medical Centre USA 686 Chamber dive to 2,250' at the Duke Medical Centre
  119. 2010 1 6 Bonifacio Petty Officer 3 Armand Philippines Coastguard 68 SCUBA Aged 42, 18 year veteran Coastguard diver working on recovering bodies from the wreck of the MV Catalyn B which sank off Limbones Island (Cavite Province). Volunteered to dive to about 221 feet, as another PCG colleague was unavailable. On the first of three scheduled dives for the day, Bonifacio, along with his dive buddy, retrieved a woman’s body. On their second attempt, the two reached the ship’s wreckage again. On their ascent, however, diver felt Bonifacio shake his hand at about 170 feet deep, a signal that he was not feeling well. Bonifacio reportedly increased his ascension speed, which was against basic diving safety rules. “He wanted to speed up his ascent, which would put him more in a very compromising situation. He was held back although his buddy assisted him in breathing in air)," SOG diving team head Lt. Commander said in a GMA News’ 24 Oras report. At around 140 feet, Bonifacio lost consciousness. He was resurfaced and brought to a decompression chamber for first aid. Inside the chamber, things went well as Bonifacio regained consciousness and was reportedly still able to follow orders. Two hours later, Bonifacio succumbed to cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center. In an ABS-CBN newscast, Bonifacio’s grieving wife rues the death of her husband, who had been in the service for 18 years and was already looking forward to retirement. “I wanted to stop him, as he was getting weak physically," the wife was quoted as saying. Bonifacio had been an integral member of the SOG diving team, had been trained by the Philippine Navy and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. He participated in the relief operation for the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, which hit the country in 2009. He was also part of the rescue operation for MV Princess of Stars, which sank in Romblon in 2008, where 300 of the 800 passengers remain missing. “We checked the equipment. It’s not the equipment," but a PCG spokesperson admitted in the newscast that government divers do not have the required gas mixture for deep-sea diving. GMA News
  120. 2006 8 29 McGrath Chandon Lee USA Bisso 67 S/S Mixed Gas East Area block 346, Rowan Drilling, Removal of the MODU "Rowan Halifax" (Sank on the lease during Hurricane Rita) Mixed gas surface diving from the DP II DSV "Global Explorer" run by International Subsea Inc., Houston. No real details, no audio record recovered by CG investigators, "audio malfunctioned"
  121. 2006 8 26 Griffeth Kevin S USA Caldive 67 S/S Mixed Gas "Cal Diver IV", Main Pass area, Freeport-McMoRan Energy Inc, platform inspection. Began his ascent, at approx. 150 fsw a large manta ray became entangled in his dive hose, pulling the diver to the surface in a rapid ascent. Into DDC but died
  122. 1984 0 0 Not Recorded Tunisia 67 S/S Mixed Gas During in-water decompression, supervisor on board the vessel shifted to oxygen supply at 6 m. 2 minutes later diver surfaced, become unconscious on being pulled into an inflatable (standing by) where he was recovered in seconds. Could not be resuscitated The oxygen supply line had a filter partly covered with teflon fibers from the fittings. Check showed oxygen supply pressure but reduced flow. Diver, very experienced, did not operate his bailout for unknown reasons
  123. 1967 10 2 Lyons RJ Norway Sanford Brothers 67 S/S Air British, aged 23. Surface supplied dive to 67 metres from the Ocean Viking (NB Sandford brothers had the diving contract from July 1967 to january 1968 after which Comex took over). During water stops uncontrolled ascent to surface, pulmonary Barotrama leading to pneumothorax. JW, JL and PC
  124. 1960 5 1 Arakawa Hirochi? Australia 66 S/S Air Singapore Free Press "An Okinawan pearl diver died of divers paralysis near Thursday Island". "The first pearl diving fatality of the season ocurred at the weekend in the Darnley deeps, 55 miles off Thursday Island. Aged 26, Okinawan, diving in 36 fathoms at 2pm from the lugger 'Sedney'. He was brought to the surface in easy stages but was dead when he reached the surface. The Sydney Morning Herald
  125. 1943 10 0 Dumas Frederic France 64 SCUBA During 1943 Cousteau with Philippe Tailliez and Dumas make over 500 dives off the South of France using the 'aqualung' with Dumas reaching 210' feet in October
  126. 1940 4 3 Fijii Tosikuzu Australia 64 S/S Air Aged 26, pearl diver, youngest son of 8 sons and two daughters, lost his helmet, managed to ditch his boots and reach the surface but died from burst lungs, buried on Thursday Island (in a cemetary containing the bodies of 800 Japanese divers.) by his elder brother Tom who was diving just a 100 metres away but took 2 hours of in water decompression to reach the surface. The elder brother dived for pearls for 23 years until 1951 and had his own hoses cut by coral three times, luckily only at a depth of 11 fathoms and was hauled up each time, his helmet flooding, surviving by forcing his headback and breathing from the small air pocket at the top of the helmet. "A lot of divers died that way, the deck crews simply just didn't get them up before the air pocket ran out". There are reported to be a total of around 1,200 Japanese divers buried on the Tores Strait Islands. The Australian
  127. 1937 8 0 Not Recorded Australia 64 S/S Air Pearling lugger out of Darwin, diving to 35 fathoms of Elcho Island, had been down 20 minutes when there was a vigorous tug on the lines they floated to the surface, no sign of diver, helmet boots etc. . Reported that a few fragments of clothing were seem floating on the surface the day after. Presumed to be an attack of “a 'white death' shark. Same article refers to this being the 7th diver fatality in the previous few weeks with the other fatalities being put down to 'diver's paralysis'. The Milwaukee Journal. This a duplicate/later report of the death of a Jaopanese diver in early May.
  128. 1936 3 17 Yamamoto Gonzabaro Australia E. J. Hennessey 64 S/S Air Japanese, aged 28, diving from Mr. E. J. Hennessey's pearling lugger “Keriri" near Darnley Island diving at 20 fathoms when his air lines became entangled. Discarded his helmet but dead when he got to the surface�. This is the first fatality of the season. The pearling fleet has been out only four days. Reported in the Northern Times, Examiner etc
  129. 1932 8 28 Dahl John USA 64 S/S Air Previously the wrecking master and chief diver with the Merritt & Chapman Wrecking Company, “Noted diver dies in Norfolk, Virginia� Salvage operation off the vessel “Salvor�, cargo recovery from the wreck of the Merida (sank after a collision with the Farragut 45 miles East of Cobb Island, Virginia, with reports of treasure onboard in 1911) in approx 200' of water. Diver's death attributed to heart disease but authoriies wanted an autopsy. No other details. Reported in the Sun (Baltimore, Md.)
  130. 2009 5 4 Wilson Christopher USA Veolia 63 Saturation American, aged 38, Vermillion area, Stingray pipeline, DSV Kingfisher, floating a pipeline 10 miles south of Sabine pass, oversized air bag, no hold back, inverter line tied to inadequate weight, failed air bag rigging, dragged from depth to 22 metres.
  131. 1965 0 0 Sealab II USA 63 Saturation Three teams of 10 men dived to 205' for 15 days, one man (Astronaut Scott Carpenter) stayed at depth for 30 days.
  132. 1961 6 15 Missa Roy Australia 62 S/S Air Aged 36, Torres Strait Islander, diving in the Darnley Deeps, 150 miles off the island, got into difficulties at depth, apparently ditched his helmet, surfaced, paralysed from the waist down, died in hospital. “He also received damage to the brain from water pressure after removing his diving helmet to help himself surface� Reported in The Age.
  133. 1957 4 5 Smith Eldon W USA 62 S/S Air American, aged 31 or 51 (Reports are conflicting) from Wilmington, diving off Southern California from the Oil Exploration Vessel "Submarex", end of dive, ascending, suffered apparent in-water decompression illness, brought to surface and transferred to US Navy DDC at naval base (inference is no DDC on the vessel), died 8 hours into 165' therapeutic treatment, Diver Bill Biller who went into the DDC as assistant had to share the chamber with the body for another 30 hours of decompression. Reported in the Herald Tribune
  134. 2009 5 0 Not recorded GOM 61 S/S Mixed Gas Cutting up of the wreck of the "High Island III" "There we were making gas dive after gas dive burning box after box of Brocos cutting up a bent and twisted pile of drilling derrick. The diver had rigged up to a big pile of I-beam and angle iron and was cutting it free of bottom. "up on the load, cut cut cut; up on the load, cut cut cut. Diver says, "OK get up on the load it's free to the surface." and goes back to the class II bell to watch the load come up. As it clears bottom I see what looks like a huge (20 to 30ft) cloud coming up under this pile of scrap. No shit, this was all this gas trapped in the scrap pile! The diver asks me "What the hell is that?" I respond knowingly, "The bomb you were building." I never would have thought that could happen".
  135. 2008 3 24 BBC UK Bangladesh 61 S/S Air BBC news article covering the 'Kohji' ('those who search for something') working the rivers of Bangladesh using tyre air compressors, hose pipe and basic BA type full face masks to recover scrap, cargo and bodies.
  136. 2006 9 1 Ireland Patrick USA 61 Saturation Location was West Delta 104? Diver umbilical snagged by Manta Ray a week after Kevin Griffeth. See youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=959CWu0w8dc&mode=related&search=
  137. 2003 0 0 Not Recorded Gabon 61 Saturation Diver suffered muscle spasms, difficulty in breathing and unconsciousness. Recovered safely, no residual symptoms of any kind, no biological, physical or chemical influences. Suspected electrocution between IC anode system and installation but never proved.
  138. 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.
  139. 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.
  140. 1976 0 0 Riddett Richard 'Dick' Asia Ocean Systems? (tbc) 61 S/S Air Australian, diving off one of the Diamand M rigs (Dragon or General?). Stopped responding to signals, brought to surface and pronounced dead. Details needed. OK Dude/Longstreath.
  141. 1974 5 23 Auestad B UK 61 Norwegian, aged 24. Died of natural causes in the DDC, Delay in getting him into DDC - obese – plus post mortem revealed history of heart problems, not medically fit to dive.
  142. 1974 3 30 Norris William UK 61 British, pipe-lay barge? Medically unfit to dive (no medical), died in DDC following a dive, reported as decompression illness
  143. 1971 3 0 Brushneen Michael George Norway Comex 61 S/S Mixed Gas British, aged 33. "Ocean Viking", Bell bounce dive in a new design (possibly untested and subsequently discontinued) constant volume suit, blew up from seabed, pulmonary barotrauma resulting in pneumothorax
  144. 1970 5 2 Chorinsky Australia Ocean Systems 61 S/S Air Reported as dying on offshore operations in the Bass Strait after being employed less than two weeks. Allegedly no medical and previously sacked by another diving contractors after panicking in deep water. Working on a pipeline at 200' with only one dive to 120' the previous week, rapid ascent. 'Weight belt attached to air line, no bail out, no first stage regulator, died 25 minutes after entering the decompression chamber'
  145. 1962 0 0 Link Edward USA 61 Man in the Sea programme' used heliox to dive to 200'.
  146. 2013 12 1 Argoncillo Alex UAE Scamp / Gubunco 60m S/S Air One of two divers employed by Scamp Middle East reported as having died in November/December 2013 (The second was not named but was initially reported 'not diving related' but no details, waiting on clarification from Scamp. Later reported that the other death occurred on November 14th and was diving related). Philippino, Vessel husbandry job off Fujairah, unclear whether he got entangled in a brush cart umbilical or his diving umbilical was caught in the vessel propellor. No details, his best friend, Alex Tejedar, died in Italy in April 2013 (Costa Concordia salvage works, but death was not diving related). PC. Another report states that the incident occurred on surface supply when the divers umbilical caught in cleaning chariot brush, diver surfaced and removed band mask, chariot started to pull diver under water, standby diver launched ( in SCUBA) and gives second stage to diver in distress, diver bites off 2nd stage, rescue abandoned, diver pulled under water and drowned. PC
  147. 2012 3 24 Not Recorded Russia Navy Diver 60 Diving off the Rescue vessel "Alagez" with the Pacific Fleet in Pyotr Veliky Bay of Primorye conducting a submarine salvage drill with a "damaged" submarine on the seabed in 60 metres of water. Reports unclear, though may have been 'equipment failure'. Contradictory reports regarding his diving partner say he is 'undergoing intensive decompression therapy' or 'did not suffer and needs no treatment'. No details. Reported by Navaltoday.com
  148. 2011 8 2 Marzouk Ismail Egypt Blue O2 60 Rebreather Aged 33, IANTD technical diving instructor working out of Hurgada died on a deep wreck dive (90 metres?) dive off Marsa Alam with three British tourists, apparently stopped breathing at 60 metres (suspected oxygen toxicity) and dropped into the depths, the three tourists surfaced without incident, instructor's body not recovered. Family raising questions about about lack of any SCUBA/Sports/Tourist/Technical diving standards or enforcement in Egypt. Wife and baby daughter. A second fatality - that of a Russian diving instructor - was reported on the same day but no detailed reports located to date. NB, Tourist diving instructors - esppecially technical diving - appear to have a very high fatality rate but are not generally reported. Reported by ahramonline
  149. 2008 0 0 Pol Carlos Spain 60 S/S Air ack hammer. He was on air as his breathing gas (at 60 m).  Due to the nature of the operation, the visibility was badly disturbed and to counteract this, the company had requested that the diver place a 10�-12� diameter flexi hose airlift in close proximity to his working position, to clear away suspended particles. This was secured by the diver using rope and was made hot at the surface.  There was no information as to whether the diver had a flow control valve at his side?  At some point the securing knot became detached, which caused the hose to drift out of position, coming into contact with the back of the divers head as he worked. The intense suction caused his band-mask to become dislodged and also trapped him at the base of the airlift, resulting in him drowning. Apparently several days prior to this particular incident there was a similar situation where the hose had dislodged and had trapped the working divers arm.  On that occasion topside managed to switch off the airlift and the diver managed to free himself - though he did require hospital treatment to his badly damaged arm. Furthers details may be coming. PC
  150. 2005 11 24 Jones Zakarij Mason USA PDCoF 60 SCUBA American, Professional Diving Charters of Florida, Ft Lauderdale, Vessel "Pro diver II", He drowned, Contrary to initial USCG report, it was a sports dive, hospital "lost the medical records", reports contradictory
  151. 1991 8 15 Shepherd Brian South China Sea McDermott 60 Saturation British, aged 44, one of four divers who died when the McDermott DB 29 got caught in typhoon 'Fred' in the South China Sea, POB 195, 22 fatalities. Diver's HRV was the bell, but the barge developed a list and the bell could not be mated to the TUP. Saturation system had been decompressed to around 60' before the barge capsized and sank. As the barge, upside down, sank, the pressure equalised with the TUP, the door was opened and three divers (Steve Hardy, John Lyons and Terry Dennison) swam for the surface but drowned (dragged down by the suction of the barge sinking?). Their bodies were recovered from the sea. Autopsy revealed no signs of decompression illness indicating that although decompression had been accelerated, the high ppO2 had been effective. Cause of death was salt water drowning. The body of Brian Shepherd was recovered from the flooded dive system (still complete, intact and attached to the upturned hull of the barge) by saturation divers some two months later. He was located still wrapped in a hammock slung in what would have been a gas bubble in the capsized system. Autopsy revealed leg injuries leading to speculation that he was injured when the barge capsized and was unable to make the escape attempt with the other three divers. Cause of death – asphyxiation. The barge was never salvaged and still lies upside down under the South China Sea. Telegraph and Argus plus Personal Communication.
  152. 1981 2 1 Withheld pending agreement of the diver Gabon Comex 60 S/S Mixed Gas Diver was deployed using SS HeO2 to carry out a short intervention on the subsea experimental template station at Grondin NE field. About 5 min into the dive, diver shouted; "NO AIR" then silence. The standby diver entered the water and located him at about 30 metres tangled in the ROV umbilical with his helmet off. He was unconscious. Brought up to surface and transferred to the DDC attached to the SAT system and given resuscitation and first aid. Breathing was restarted but he remained unconscious. He was blown down to -50m on air. Local Comex diving doctor was flown to the site. She entered the DDC and gave therapeutic medical treatment. The casualty recovered and came out of DDC at end of hyperbaric treatment. He went back to diving and was a member of one of the deepest experimental dive conducted by Comex. The reason for the lack of breathing media could not be ascertained even after multiple tests on the umbilical and panel. The bail out cylinder was found full of water. Reported about a year after that the diving supervisor at the panel admitted not setting up the panel regulator to cater for the water depth.
  153. 1980 0 0 Burrows??? Needs to be confirmed Australia McDermott 60 Saturation Australian in his early 40s. Four man sat system on the DB 21 (ex Ingram 7) in the Bass Straight. Bell at around 170', during a dive to the seabed at 198', the diver stopped responding to the supervisor. Bellman attempted to pull him back but by his umbilical but he was caught up on seabed. Bellman put on gear and went to the dive site, found the diver unresponsive, not breathing. Recovered diver to trunking but could not pull him into the bell. The bell was recovered to 150' and the surface (air) diver deployed to help. The bellman and surface standby diver managed to pull the diver into the bell and close the bottom door. Bell recovered and locked on (including the surface air diver). Diver did not respond to treatment. Cause of death, heart attack whilst in the water. Personal Communication. Confirmation of name and details needed (TC).
  154. 1893 4 9 Christianson Captain John USA 60 S/S Air Elliot Bay, Seattle, “He plunged into the waters of Elliot Bay and after 20 minutes returned with the lead line and a bucket from one of the hatches of the tug “Majestic� lying at a depth of 196 feet. He apparently suffered no great inconvenience�
  155. 2012 2 4 Rodriguez Miguel Angelo Spain Diveships 6 Aged 41, grout injection operation ('Emergency repairs') at the Queen Sofia pier in the port of Cadiz, call to the emergency services at 13:50 of a 'diver problem'. Initial reports indicated that he failed to surface, was recovered but did not respond to treatment, possible heart attack (pending autopsy). Passed a medical in December, had been working with the contractor for one month. EFE Cadiz
  156. 2011 6 4 Andres J. A. Spain 6 Zamakona Shipyards, Port of Santurce, Bilbao, cleaning the propellers of a Tug. Julio Da Costa was in the nozzle with his colleague, J A Andres outside, when the propellers were started. Andres was injured but blown away, Da Costa was killed when sucked into the blades. Reportd by GPS Buceo
  157. 2011 6 4 Gallo Julio Da Costa Spain Jerez e Hijos 6 Aged 52, Zamakona Shipyard, Port of Santurce, Bilbao, cleaning the propellers of a Tug. He was in the nozzle with his colleague (J A Andres) was outside when the propellers were started. Andres was injured but blown away, da Costa was killed when sucked into the blades. Reportd by GPS Buceo
  158. 2011 3 24 Irvine James UK 6 SCUBA Aged 42, from the Glenrothes area of Fife, disappeared at 13:00 GMT on Thursday off the coast at Lower Largo. "The two men who remained on the boat reported that the man had surfaced during the dive and requested more weights, but did not resurface after this." Paraphrased from AP/STV reports: “Police have confirmed that a body recovered from the water at 19:30 GMT on Friday was that of a missing scallop diver. Extensive searches had been carried out by police divers supported by the Central Scotland Police Diving Team, a Royal Navy rescue helicopter and Kinghorn Lifeboat were also involved. HSE investigation ongoing, unclear if this was a commercial dive, but is one of two scallop diving fatalities (the other was Graham Mackie, 11th June) that led to the HSE issuing a safety alert on the 22nd June
  159. 2009 9 17 Not Recorded UK Kaymac Marine 6 S/S Air Aged 27, dredging operation at the new Pembroke power station, in the water 90 minutes and reported feeling unwell, passed out before he reached the surface, recovered to deck, given O2, airlifted to DDRS in Plymouth, later released fit and well. Sequence appears to have been:- Reported feeling funny, was asked to flush hat from bail out, no response, Supervisor switched him to HP supply, pulled back to cage, deck, hat off, O2 administered, came round. From going on to HP to hat off on deck, 3 minutes. HSE investigation. Root cause appears to have been foul road compressor air from air lance buffeting it's way upwards into the helmet past a loose neck dam. Possible additional seabed contamination from Methane and H2S. (NB Road compressor was sited well clear of diving compressors, did not contaminate diving gas, contamination took place at the work site). Team switched to free flow/contaminated water suitable helmets (AH5). Milford Mercury & PC.
  160. 2009 7 28 Ricciarelli Louis USA 6 S/S Air American, aged 56, diving off Quonset point from the 25'.commercial fishing vessel 'Chelsea Ann' for Qhahogs (clams). Diving solo, no crew. Alerted as 'not returned' by his wife, boat located with diving hose over the side. Divers recovered him from the seabed, deceased. “Equipment failure/lost gas� but no details. Reported in the Providence Journal
  161. 2008 6 20 Johnstone Christopher UK RN 6 SCUBA British RN reservist, aged 42, UK Navy diver training establishment, Horsea island, fell ill during training dive (casualty recovery drill). Initial reports indicated natural causes (heart attack) but at the inquest a pathologist who specialises in diving accidents said the immediate cause of death was a rupture in the lungs, due to failure to breathe out on the ascend to the surface. “He perhaps didn't breathe the gas out at the time. That's the only possible explanation�.
  162. 2007 10 30 Loveria Tim USA Poterdam 6 SCUBA 46 year old from Conklin, New York, diving contractor out of New York, drowned Tuesday in Panguitch Lake, Utah. Failed to surface at about 1 p.m. He was removing a temporary dam his team had installed to allow water to be pumped out of a channel that crews were trying to dig deeper, Garfield County sheriff's deputies wrote in a statement. Other divers on the team found Loveria under 18 feet of water. Reported in Deseret News
  163. 2006 8 17 Duque Steve Arctic USCG 6 SCUBA Diving off the USCG vessel "Healy", Alaska, under ice. Incompetence
  164. 2006 8 17 Hill Jessica Arctic USCG 6 SCUBA Diving off the USCG vessel "Healy", Alaska, under ice. Incompetence
  165. 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�
  166. 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
  167. 1995 0 0 Not Recorded Canada 6 SCUBA Diver clearing a Culvert, upstream of blockage, dislodged debris, sucked through culvert and ejected but drowned.
  168. 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
  169. 1991 0 0 Bennett Marc or Mark Indonesia Pelita Mustika Mandiri 6 S/S Air New Zealander, “Died in an accident on an Indonesian oil rig�, no details However we have now received the following information:- “Diving off the DLB Shillelagh' (360' x 100') during a pipeline shore pull. He became entangled in fishing net debris near shore in shallow water and lost umbilical supply (umbilical believed to have become wrapped/kinked in fishing lines). Unclear if he exhausted his bailout. Managed to surface briefly but was still entangled, at one stage was clinging to a buoy for flotation. Stand-by diver was deployed and found the diver still entangled mid-water with his hat off. Recovered to barge but did not respond to treatment�. A further correspondent has added, "the vessel was carrying out a beach pull, Mark was on the end of his hose (can't remember the umbilical length on this barge, normally they were 400-600ft on the barges in these days). His helmet (KMB17) detached from the neck-dam, but he could still breath and had communications, he informed the supervisor who instructed him to make his way back to the barge slowly along the seabed while the standby was jumped. Instead he decided to climb a buoy-line to the surface, (I think about 6-7mt water depth).... while doing this his hat came fully off due to him climbing and the standby pulling himself along his hose. One thing to point out is that Mark was fairly new to the game and the standby was on his first job. On the surface while holding onto the Norwegian buoy, he tried to dump his gear, but was being pulled under by the standby traveling along his hose.... there was a pelican clip attaching the umbilical to his harness; when he pulled it to release the umbilical, the rope broke on the ring attached to the clip and he couldn't release himself, then he tried to cut himself free, this failed and he was dragged under and drowned. Mark was pulled back to the barge and CPR was preformed to no avail. This all happened in the early hours of the morning, the big rig operator at the time could see what was happening as he had his spot light focused out the stern of the barge. He could see but didn't know the big picture. PC/Longstreath.
  170. 1985 11 17 Rao Mathew J USA Caldwell Diving Company 6 S/S Air Removing silt from a dockside water when his air supply was accidentally cut off, 'His air hose got sucked into the intake of the ejection pump, cutting off his air supply,'' NY Times
  171. 1985 5 22 Tonkawa USA Temple Drilling 6 Drill rig with crew of 22, under tow overturned in 19' of water, divers cut two men out of the upturned hull 5 hours later, 6 fatalities. Los Angeles Times
  172. 1983 1 10 Bowes Bob GOM 6 S/S Air Houma, tender making first dive, recovering drill string that had fallen off a barge, hose pinched, no bailout, found under barge, drowned.
  173. 1979 0 0 McKerlich Jock or Jack UK Northern Divers 6 S/S Air Inquest was held in Banf in May 1980, date of fatality not known. (Jack was the younger brother of Sarge McKerlich who died in a commercial diving accident in 1984). Aged 21 from Kyle of Lochalsh, working in Macduff harbour, post lunch dive (reported as havng had 2 pints of beer with a bar lunch), vomited, no suit inflation, negatively buoyant, could not stay on surface, tender continued to pay out slack, burst Aorta. Reported at the inquest that 'drinking and diving is common practice on civil engineering contracts'. A diving inspector claimed he would not have been allowed to go for a drink if stricter rules - "now under consideration" - had been implemeted. Fellow diver stated that the primary cause of him vomiting was the 12' jump into the cold harbour water. Reported in the Glasgow Herald
  174. 1978 0 0 Not Recorded USA 6 SCUBA �The victim was diving alone in 18 feet of water trying to find out why fishing nets were getting fouled on the bottom. He had not been diving for 5 years and the equipment had not been used for equally as long. The victim entered the water and never resurfaced. He was recovered two and a half hours later� Reported in the statistics of the University of Michigan, Michigan Sea Grant Program, 1979. (Not sure whether this is a true professional fatality so it is excluded from the count TC)
  175. 1975 3 18 McDonald Norman Canada Can Dive Services 6 Chamber Described as “Working in water more than 200 feet deep off the Harmac pulp mill (owned byMacMillan Bloedel Ltd)�, required surface decompression in deck chamber, “The RCMP said a diver burned to death when a spark ignited in the pure oxygen in the decompression chamber". Victim was not named. Reported in the Windsor Star. An alternative report says that the diver was completing his surface decompression at 1.6 bara (20 fsw) following a routine mixed gas dive dive to 275'. His respirator mask was not working correctly so he switched to a second that was 'Y' connected and put it on free flow which by-passed the overboard dump and allowed the O2 inside the chamber build to an estimated 40%. The diver was wearing two sweathers for warmth. As the chamber was being vented the diver removed his wool sweater from over the synthetic one. There was a flash inside the chamber and smoke poured out of the vents and BIBS dump. It was concluded that static electrical discharge was the initiating factorThe diver died as a result of the explosion, CO poisoning and asphyxia. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164
  176. 1974 4 17 Perry Dennis USA Military 6 SCUBA Aged 27, married with two children. Oil tanker 'Imperial Sarnia' en route to Montreal with 45,000 bbls of crude ran ashore on Whaleback Shoal, estimate 2,000 bbls spill, pollution along several miles of the coastline. Diver was one of three coastguard divers installing lines around the hull in 20' of water, sank to the bottom and disappeared. Ottawa citizen.
  177. 1961 6 2 Ward James UK Kirkaldy Corporation 6 S/S Air Diving from a tug near the dock gates in Kirkaldy Harbour, alarm raised when tugman could not get response on lifeline. A team of divers from HMS Safeguard, Rosyth, raced to the harbour and located the diver trapped by his left arm under the sluice gates and by water pressure. In addition to his lifeline, a further two ropes were tied to him and the sluice gates lifted until he could be pulled clear. On deck, he was cut out of his suit and a doctor attepted CPR, but he failed to respond. Evening Times. His widow was awarded £3,487 and 10 shillings. The jury assessed the damages at £4,650 but held that the deceased was 25% to blame for the accident that led to his death. Unknown to the diver the sluice gates had been left partially open. As soon as he approached the bottom of the gate he was caught in the current of water passing through thr sluice and asphyxiatyed. The Corporation denied responsibilty and claimed Ward stumbled and fell. The Glasgow Herald
  178. 1943 9 15 Lydan Cpl. J. H. Australia Military 6 Diver Rescues Troops' Beer. SYDNEY, Wed— When the weekly beer ration of an anti-aircraft unit in a remote North-Western area fell into 20 feet of water, the troops gave it up far lost, but the fortuitous passing of a diver saved it. Diving to the bottom, Cpl. J. H. Lydan, of Sydney, located the case and brought it to shore. Lydan and Sgt. G. Urquhart, of Turramurra, are the first Australian soldiers to qualify at a Navy diving school. They are attached to an Army water transport unit. Reported in The Daily News, Perth.
  179. 1942 4 18 Hamilton Bernard O USA 6 S/S Air Aged 32, trapped under mud and fallen pilings in Chesapeake Bay for 9 hours, rescued by Navy divers, unhurt except for minor leg injuries.
  180. 1932 9 30 Stevens William Ramsey Hong Kong Hong Kong Government 6 S/S Air Australian diver employed by the Government on the Hong Kong Harbour Pipe. At the inquest, Senior commissioned Gunner George Hamilton RN, the expert witness, gave a demonstration of the working of the diving suit and helmet stating that the exhaust valve could be regulated by the diver to control the pressure of air in the suit. He also examined the topsides pump and found it efficient and 'needing about 25 turns a minute to keep a proper supply of air for working under any conditions'. The diver had only been in the water about three minutes when he ditched his helmet (including the two 40 pound lead weights). It was supposed at the inquest that there had been a mix up in the signals and when he asked for more air, he was actually given less and in desperation tried to ditch his helmet and reach the surface. The expert witness decsribed the diver's last act as "a very desperate act which I think, as an experienced diver, I would never dream of doing. It would drown him and fill up the suit with water. He absolutely committed suicide by taking his helmet off". Straits Times.
  181. 1930 1 30 Trans Peter Canada 6 S/S Air 30 year old Danish immigrant, trapped by hoses/differential pressure against a coffer dam at the Ontario Paper Company project at Pointe aus Outardes, recovered after 71 hours, but had died (hypothermia). Working to build new life in Canada for his wife and children still in Denmark. Rescue divers Quesnel Morency and Lewis Begin were flown 200 miles north from Montreal into the remote location on the river Outardes, Quebec, to effect a rescue attempt. The Evening Independent.
  182. 2013 10 23 Guidry Earl USA J & J Diving 5m S/S Air Aged 40, Port Sulphur, Louisisana, airlifting 10 feet below the mud line, he was found with his helmet off, not wearing a bailout, Facebook/Longstreath. Contractor fined $7,000 by US dept. of Labor "Employer did not ensure that an adequate safety assessment was made of underwater conditions prior to a diving operation". No real details.
  183. 1964 0 0 Sealab 1 USA 59 Saturation Four man team under pressure for 11 days.
  184. 1935 8 0 Not Recorded Australia 59 S/S Air Japanese pearl diver working in 35 fathoms near Echo Island, had been down 20 minutes when there was a vigorous tug on the airlines. Lines floated to surface with no sign of diver or metal helmet. "Scientists say that the only known monster capable of such an attack is a 'white death' shark which are usually about 40 feet long though there have been reports f 'white death' sharks 100 feet long". Next morning a few remnants of clothing were found floating on the surface. Diver's body and equipment never recovered. Reported in the Milwaukee Journal
  185. 1966 0 0 Not Recorded Australia 58 Bass Straits, Port Philip maintenance diver, following a strike by Australian divers (Paid much less than the expat American divers), companies cut costs by using non divers who had attended a two week training/induction course as LSTs. This led to a spate of incidents where divers were switched onto empty quads. In this incident the diver had twice been switched onto empty quads on the same dive, lost his temper and surfaced shouting abuse, dead at surface of explosive decompression. Reported that the company withheld 75% of his 20,000 A$ life insurance from his widow "for training expenses". Bubblesblower/Longstreath
  186. 2009 8 11 Holbrook Rob (Stan) Vietnam Aqua Diving Services 57 S/S Mixed Gas Aged 56, Ex RN and very experienced diver. Working from the Swiber barge 'Glorious' 70 miles off Vung Tau. Wet bell, surface supplied mixed gas bounce dive, night shift. 160' excursion from the wet bell to attach a surface line to previously installed webbing strops around a pipeline. Initial reports indicate they moved the barge to follow him way past the intended location (webbing strops had actually been removed by the day shift which is why he did not locate them) and that as he returned to the bell his umbilical became snagged on a seabed obstruction behind him at the same time as the barge was moving back. Lost gas, went onto bailout, reported he could see the wet bell then lost comms. Surface deployed standby found diver back a wet bell (unconscious?), bell recovered to surface but on the way up the diver was ripped out of the bell at 80' and fell back to the seabed (Not secured in bell, umbilical still snagged on seabed), bell sent back down and diver recovered, diver clipped in, bell recovered to surface but on the way up the diver was ripped out of the bell at 80' and again fell back to the seabed (umbilical still snagged on seabed, ripped 'D' ring off his stab jacket). Eventually brought to the surface on the third attempt by which time the diver had been in the water 60 minutes, the standby diver 40 minutes. Apparently both diver and standby were put into the DDC (No in-water decompression stops). The diver was pronounced dead by barge medic (it is likely that the diver had died before being brought to the surface) The above comes from personal communications, official reports to follow, TC. His Funeral was reported publicly in the Bournemouth Daily Echo. Inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death in 2010
  187. 1972 0 0 Not Recorded Tunisia Cocean 57 SCUBA Ashtart field, installation of a shackle on an anchoring pipe. Diving SCUBA/Trimix from SBM Installer I. Descent along the chain - High swell, chain moving in chain direction in upper zone, vertically up and down (4 to 5 meters) below 60 m where it was almost horizontal in reduced visibility water. Chain hits Scuba tanks braking the attachment between tanks. Diver catches the chain to prevent further hit, movement of water removes mask and one fin. After releasing the chain, diver could replace mask and locate the fin and come up, the buddy diver was watching above in a zone with visibility (bubbles still coming up), both returned safely at surface.....
  188. 1941 11 24 Shimizu Ischma Australia 57 S/S Air "Japanese Diver Dies". Brisbane, Tuesday. "Although his mates lowered him into the sea three times in an effort to ward off diver's paralysis, Isthma Shimizu (32), a Japanese diver, died while suspended 120 feet below the surface 30 miles from Darnley Island, Torres Straits. The Hobart Mercury, Tas. Another reports says: "Shimizu had been working at a depth of 31 fathoms for an hour and a half, and had sent up 3 baskets of pearl shell before being hauled to the surface. He was held for 40 minutes at 24 fathoms to avoid the effects of a sudden change in the pressure, but when he reached the deck of the boat he complained of pains in the hips, and later, at his own request, he was lowered to 25 fathoms for 6 hours. When he was brought to the surface again it was seen that he was losing the use of his legs, so he was lowered to 20 fathoms. He did not respond to a signal from the tender, and another diver descended and found him dead". The Argus, Melbourne, Vic
  189. 1992 7 6 Not Recorded USA 56 EI 273, "Preparing platform for drilling rig, under investigation by USCG"
  190. 2008 8 30 Not Recorded Malaysia DOF 55 Saturation DSV Geosea, relocating spoolpiece with air bags, uncontrolled lift of spoolpiece dragged diver 2 from 55m to 36m, lost comms/video, both divers locked back in, OK, no holdbacks on liftbags.
  191. 1992 1 2 Tortorella Franco Italy Drafin Sub 55 SCUBA Italian, aged 43. Ligurian Sea (off Genoa), off a small boat with a partner inspecting (plus cleaning and fishing!) a loading facility. Died during ascent. Unisuit too small, clear signs of haemorrhage on neck and top of shoulder.
  192. 1934 9 13 Kongo Hisa Australia Bowden Pearling Co. 55 S/S Air "Diver Drowned When Helmet Fills With Water" Japanese diver aged 24, reported that his helmet filled with water as he rose to the surface with a bag of shells at Darnley Island. Diving off the lugger 'Sydney', came to the surfacce unconscious, the vessel master, Captain Yonekawa, thought he was suffering from diver's paralysis, fitted another helmet and took Kongo down again in an attempt to relieve the stricken diver. The Captain remained below for nearly 40 minutes but Kongo failed to respond. He was hauled to the surface dead. Reported in the Advocate, Burnie, Tasmania.
  193. 1891 11 3 Pelkey Oliver USA 55 S/S Air Diving from the wrecking tug "Emerald" working out of Alpena (Thunder Bay, Lake Huron) searching for the wreck of the "Pewabic" - Lost August 1865 after a collision with her sister vesssel 'Meteor' with the loss of 125 lives, carrying copper (mostly salvaged during the first world war) - They found the wreck, returned to the site and diver entered the water. 20 minutes into the dive his signals stopped. "Six stalwart men were unable to pull him up and as a last resort the Captain ordered the lines made fast to the boat and the tug started ahead. Something finally parted and it was found that his body was yet attached to the lines. A hole in his armour near the hips indicated that water had rushed in and smothered him" New York Times
  194. 1979 0 0 NEDU USA USN 549 Saturation Using the 'Ocean Simulator Facility (OSF), NEDU divers completed a 37 programme to a maximum depth of 1,800'
  195. 2012 3 31 Kay Marson Ashly USA Karst Underwater Research 54 SCUBA Aged 29, volunteer diver, one of a six man team from Karst Underwater Research (A not-for-profit organisation that maps and measures flow and water quality of underwater springs for state agencies and water management districts in Florida), diving with three others at the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. The group had descended to about 180' and as they ascended he took a different route and became wedged, possibly trapped by water flow (at about 100' depth), the team members tried but failed to release him. Rescue divers got to him in under three minutes from leaving the surface when the first group surfaced and raised the alarm, but found him dead with his regulator out and mask pushed onto his forehead. Body brought to the surface an hour later. The Ledger.com. The autopsy concluded death was caused by an air embolism (specifically, that an air bubble had lodged in his heart and blocked the blood supply to the lungs) and the medical examiner ruled it as an accidental death. Karst U/W research quoted as saying "Instead of following the ropes as he had done multiple times in the past, Marson rapidly moved into a restrictive area of the crevasse. It is believed that this behaviour was not calculated but a reaction caused by the affect of an air embolism he incurred while rapidly ascending from depth. Typically, this condition causes profound changes in mental functioning, including disoriientation, blindness, paralysis, seizures and loss of consciousness within minutes or even seconds of onset. If it occurs after surfacing, it is often fatal or profoundly disabling even with prompt recompression therapy. When it occurs underwater, the incapacity or unconsciousness it causes almost always results in drowning". Hernando Today. This fatality has not been included as a commercial diving fatality as this seems to be a weekend cave diving group using 'research' as a means of gaining access to cave systems that might otherwise be off-limits (TC).
  196. 2009 1 1 Not Recorded India Sub tech 54 S/S Air One comment was that a diver working off the DSV Samudra Pabra, swimming a leg, felt unwell but died in the chamber during decompression, no details. Note. This incident bears an uncanny similarity to another thought to have occurred before January 2007 where a diver off Bombay died during saturation decompression. Death ascribed to myocardial infarcation and therefore not diving related. Other sources consider that a likely cause could have been an undiagnosed spontaneous pneumothorax. All these memories come from personal communications and need verification. Can anybody clarify? TC
  197. 2007 9 3 Acton Steve USA Caldive Saipem 54 Saturation Katrina' salvage ops. "Using a grinder on a fallen structure deck plate, heard a weird noise and that was it". Diver was using a hydraulic underwater grinder to cut a window into 5/8 inch steel plate. There was an underwater explosion. Deck crew on the S-355 barge reported hearing a boom and some individuals stated that they felt the shock wave of the explosion. The videotape that was recording the diver’s movements was non-operational. An unspecified number of minutes elapsed before bell partner reached unresponsive diver 1. Upon reaching diver, the standby opened the free-flow valve on his diving hat. This action caused the diving helmet to become completely detached leaving the diver’s head exposed to sea water, without access to any breathing apparatus. Diver immediately attempted to replace the helmet and hold it in place. During this time a surface standby diver was sent to assist. The bell partner, with or without the assistance of the surface diver, brought the injured diver into the bell, and following assessment while in communication with the diving physician, initiated chest compressions. Injured diver was raised to surface in the bell but pronounced dead.. Investigation ongoing. An interim technical report raised issue of potential for underwater explosion when cutting into a gas pocket with a grinder (underwater grinding 'sparks' not generally raised as an issue in risk assessments
  198. 2010 3 31 Casagrande Jean Christophe, known as 'Cox' Morocco Hydrokarst 53 SCUBA French (Albigensian) , aged 42, dive to recover a current metre at the site of the commercial freeport 'Tangier med 2000' at Ksar Sghir. Sub contract from SRPTM (Société Réalisation Port Tanger Méditerranée, a Saipem/Bougues company). Reported that his cylinders came to surface and he was found unconscious on the seabed, recovered to the surface by diver two, did not respond to treatment. Experienced diver, had been working with the same contractor since 2004. Engaged to be married. Ongoing investigation. PC plus Bladi.net and ladepeche.fr
  199. 2021 2 9 Iagos Penailillo Alonso or Hector Chile Passub at AquaChile Site 52m SCUBA "Aged 42, diving at the AquaChile Aysen 2 salmon cultivation centre near Puerto Chacabuco. Decompression illness incident compounded by 50 minute transit to Puerto Chacabuco. Then taken to Puerto Aysen Hospital (15km away) to their hyperbaric centre but died the following day. Reported by salmonexpert.cl. A later report quoting his nephew stated that his first name was Alonso, not Hector, that the dive was to 52 metres (not 25 metres as reported by the Company), that when he reached port there was no support and he had to hitch a ride in a truck to Puerto Aysen, that when he arrived at Aysen hospital they made him wait prior to therapeutic recompression, that his treatment was 'only 3 to 4 hours', that afterwards doctors assured the family he was stable and sleeping (03:40 hours) but at 08:00 hours told them he was in organ failure and died at 11:35 Reported by El Tirapiedras. Some reports question why it took 7 hours for him to get to hospital when it was a 50 minute speedboat transit."
  200. 1953 7 10 Not Recorded Malta RN 52 Chamber Paraphrased from paper:- “Within 2 minutes of commencing pressurisation an unprotected 100 Watt bulb imploded at between 5 and 6 bara (!34-170 fsw) and incandescent ignited the canvas floor. The five occupants unsuccessfully trued to stamp out several small fires which rapidly spread to the wooden floor and benches. Within 1 minute flames engulfed the chamber and the pressure rose to 9.2 bara (265 fsw). The chamber was surfaced 5 minutes into the dive and when opened flames came out of the open doorway requitring extingushing by fire hose. Within 6 hours all 5 occupants had expired from their 90-100% total body surface area burns�. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  201. 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.
  202. 1930 4 7 Higashi Mogatoro Australia Edward McKay 51 S/S Air Japanese, lead diver off the pearling lugger 'Dulcie', Paraphrased from the inquest reported in the Northern territory Times:- 'I was tender for the deceased. I put him down on Sunday 6th at 11.30 am. for the first time this season. The depth was 28 fathoms. He reached the bottom and signaled all right. About five minutes later he again signaled O.K. About 10 minutes later I got the signal to bring up. When he came up to 10 fathoms he signaled ma to wait. That meant he wanted to be staged. Three minutes later the deceased came to the surface and on to the ladder when I removed the face glass. The deceased did not speak. I said 'The water is too deep you should have had a longer stage coming up'. Deceased came on deck and sat down. I was coiling the life line when the engine boy sang out to me 'The diver is falling over.' I put the face glass back and we put him back on to the water and tried to stage him. When we got him to about 17 fathoms deceased used to close the valve and bring himself up to the surface. We tried several times to get him down but every time he would bring himself up�. “We took him out of the diving suit. He was unconscious and breathing feebly. We put him in his bunk in the cabin and came straight away to Darwin. Members of the crew kept massaging the deceased, but he did not regain consciousness and died about 11 am. on the 7th. Verdict returned that death was due to divers paralysis
  203. 1893 3 27 George Australia 51 S/S Air Paraphrased from a report in the Brisbane Courier. “A native of Samoa, diving from the pearling lugger 'Rotumah' in very deep water, the line showing twenty-eight fathoms. He had previously been down thrice, and the temptation to go down and gather many more was so very great that George cast aside the terrible warnings which had been given by the fatality with so many previous drivers. George thought he was strong and healthy, and could withstand the pressure of water at great depths. When George rose, to the surface on the fourth occasion he showed signs of distress and asked to have his dress taken off. This was immediately done and he asked for a drink of water and some painkiller. The latter was speedily obtained from the cabin and a few drops of it placed in a cup of water. This George took with the intention of drinking. The unfortunate victim only succeeded in clicking the cup against his tooth. Then he fell back on to the cabin-house in a death like swoon. Poor George never regained consciousness, but about 5 o'clock, or three hours after leaving the briny for the last time, he gave three long gasps and died�.
  204. 2012 4 22 Abu Khalil Hussein Ahmad Lebanon 50 SCUBA Aged 42, head of the Environment and Development department and the Marine Exploration Department, diving off the village of Qleileh, Tyre, inspecting a seafloor project designed to increase fish numbers. His body was located by a Navy SAR team the day after. Reported as having died of a heart attack. Dailystar.com.lb
  205. 2001 0 0 Turnbull Robert Qatar Hallul 50 Saturation British, DSV "Khattaf" (Ex "British Argyll"). Died whilst locked out, suspected heart attack
  206. 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)
  207. 1982 0 0 Not Recorded USSR Military 50 Training dive in Lake Baikal. Reported that during the dive they saw “a group of humanoids dressed in silvery suits�. They tried to catch them, in the process 3 trainees died and 4 were injured. Reported lifted from declassified Soviet “UFO encounter� records in 2009 (Whether you believe narcosis/bad gas/a training error or “Aliens� is up to you, TC)
  208. 1979 8 15 Anderson Allan Mexico Taylor Diving and Salvage 50 Saturation American, aged 32, "Ixtox I" blow-out 3rd of June, Bay of Campeche, Mexico, Drill rig "Sedco 135F" sank. Diver died during attempts to shut in the well, off the barge "LB Meaders", caught in vortex at wellhead and blown to the surface. Well finally capped 23/3/1980, second biggest oil-spill in history. Wife and two children aged 11 and 7.
  209. 1975 3 12 Rene Pierre Canada 50 Aged 32 from Montreal, "Four specialists in underwater medicine tried unsuccessfully to save the life of a diver who became ill while working in the Port of Quebec. Police said that he became ill while inspecting the outlet of a sewage conduit in the middle of the St Lawrence River". Edmonton Journal
  210. 1968 11 9 Joost Berend H. USA University of Miami Marine Sciences 50 SCUBA Two divers, Berend Joost, aged 34 of the University of Miami, and John McGinnis, aged 51 of Ocean-Engineering, were installing acoustic recording equipment at the edge of the Gulf stream off Miami when McGinnis noticed that Joost had dropped to the seabed, he went down to help but Joost had a strong grasp on the rope. Joost's mouthpiece dropped out, McGinnis replaced it but had to surface as had run out of air and suffered from decompression illness (treated, believed OK). A third diver, Jim Nangle, aged 23 and also an Ocean-Engineering technician recovered Joost's body to the surface. Reported in the Toledo Blade
  211. 1968 11 9 McGinnis John USA Ocean Engineering 50 SCUBA Two divers, Berend Joost, aged 34 of the University of Miami, and John McGinnis, aged 51 of Ocean-Engineering, were installing acoustic recording equipment at the edge of the Gulf stream off Miami when McGinnis noticed that Joost had dropped to the seabed, he went down to help but Joost had a strong grasp on the rope. Joost's mouthpiece dropped out, McGinnis replaced it but had to surface as had run out of air and suffered from decompression illness (treated, believed OK). A third diver, Jim Nangle, aged 23 and also an Ocean-Engineering technician recovered Joost's body to the surface. Reported in the Toledo Blade
  212. 1948 8 1 Djawa Willem Australia 50 S/S Air "Diver's Death". Darwin - "Carrying the body of the third pearl diver to have died on this coast in eight days, the lugger 'Plover' berthed here. The diver, Willem Djawa, 28, died after four 45 minute dives to 28 fathoms of water off Melville Island. He complained of headaches after the last dive. He was weraring a full suit" The Barrier Miner, Broken Hill, NSW. DIVER LOSES GRIM BATTLE - DARWIN, Aug. 4: Fighting a losing battle for life a Koepang diver was suspended, staging, for several hours in his diving suit nine fathoms below the pearling lugger ‘Plover’ riding on the blue seas near Bathurst Island. The story of his fight was told in the Coroner's Court here today by Yussif Bin Hassim, No. I diver on the ‘Plover’. The inquest concerned the death of the second diver of the ‘Plover’, Willem Djawa (28), who died on her deck last Thursday. Hassim told the Coroner (Mr. C. K. Ward) that he was diving in 28 fathoms of water, the deepest he had ever been in. He could see Djawa in the clear water nearby on the sea floor. Djawa had never been below 12 fathoms before. Three times they went down together and stayed down each time, about 45 minutes. After the last dive Djawa complained of a "sore head." To counteract the effects of deep diving, Djawa and Hassim were "staged" nine fathoms below the lugger. "I watched Djawa hanging there for 41 hours," said Hassim. Two men pulled them up and Djawa, still sick, was lowered again in an attempt to fight off the effects of submersion. For another 2 hours he hung there while the lugger plant pumped down air. Pulled on to the deck again, Djawa said: "No more." The crew closed him up in his suit again and pumped air into the suit, but he died and the ‘Plover’ headed back, to Darwin. The Coroner found that no blame was attachable to anybody. Reported in the West Australian. Perth.
  213. 2011 10 17 Charles Rondell Trinidad Underwater Works Inc 5 SCUBA Aged 21, collecting seabed environmental samples from Port Lisa Harbour (Adjacent to the Methanex methanol plant on the Couva Industrial Estate), surfaced in distress at the end of his dive, took off tank but was still wearing weight belt. Slipped under water and failed to surface. Body recovered miles to the south three days later, No real details, waiting on reports. Trinidad Express.
  214. 2011 4 21 Catalan Hugo Amaliel Soto USA Erosion Barrier Installations 5 SCUBA Aged 23, employed out of Fort Lauderdale as one of a two man diving team surveying erosion on a man made lake at the Stoneybrook Golf and Country Club in Estero, surfaced and waved in distress but sank from sight before his partner onshore could reach him and could not be found in the murky water. His body was located 3 hours later by rescue divers. As the resue diver brought the body ashore they were followed by two snakes believed to be water moccasins (Shot and killed by shoreside deputies on alligator watch, one with a shotgun, the other an AR-15 rifle) His ditched gear was also recovered. 5 days after the death, Lee County Medical Examiner determined it was an accidental drowning. Reported in the Naples Valley News.
  215. 2010 4 9 Bondrescu Sergeant-Major Emilian Marius Romania Fireman 5 Aged 35 or 36, had worked as a diver for 15 years with the Dolj fire services (ISU), on his day off, hired to work at the village of Radovan on the dam on lake Fantanele, asked to seal the entrance to a drainage pipe. Sucked under, drowned. Took two days to recover the body as nobody could safely get near the outlet. Diving solo, no team, no lifeline. Wife and four year old daughter. www.gds.ro
  216. 2006 1 14 Du Plooy Derrick South Africa Wealth for You 5 Diamond diver at Alexander Bay in the Northern Cape died after a 5m diameter rock with a fell on him. Pumping diamondiferous gravel underwater, commercial diver and also a contract worker at the mine, working alone at the time of the incident. A mining contractor - anonymous out of fear for victimisation - "Tremendous pressure on the mining contractors to deliver a certain volume of diamonds every month. In the past three years three divers died in the region as a result of the pressure on mining contractors".
  217. 2005 7 30 Chapman John - entry 1 of 3 USA Triton 5 S/S Air John Chapman. Initially reported simply as "Liftboat, 'somebody' started the engine, umbilical caught in wheel, diver pulled to the surface and killed in the wheel". Further investigation revealed he was British, Aged 31, living in Seattle, diving from a "backup jack-up" vessel to repair a riser in shallow water off Southeast Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River. He was killed when his umbilical was caught in the propeller of the vessel. His death was classified as death resulting from the trauma of the propeller strikes and drowning. The OSHA report summary simply states "On July 30, 2005, Employee #1 was performing supplied-air diving operations in water about 8 to 10 ft deep. The dive took place about 8 to 12 ft from the stern of a twin screw jack-up boat (a boat with the wheelhouse located at the bow of the vessel). A predive safety briefing was held that morning. Employee #1 began a dive at 3:20 p.m. and had been on the bottom about 10 to 15 minutes when his air line was caught by the port propeller of the boat. He was killed. Investigation of the port power-train of the boat revealed that a worn clutch in the port power train resulted in the port propeller turning under the torque of the engine at all times" additional details in entries 2 and 3 below
  218. 2005 7 30 Chapman John - entry 3 of 3 USA Triton 5 S/S Air John Chapman. The Investigation:- The Delise and Hall Investigation concluded that the death of the diver was caused by supervisor error and unseaworthy condition of the vessel. The supervisor testified that he was confused by the configuration of the vessel as a "backup" or "reverse" jack-up vessel and did not realize that the props were at the end of the vessel from which the divers were working. The supervisor was inexperienced and had no certification as a supervisor. A JSA (not done) would have established the risk of a diver diving in close proximity to the vessel's props and would have called for a "tag-out, lock-out" of the vessel's controls (Some experts also suggested that a chain-lock of the prop should have been called for). Even more inexperienced was the dive tender (First job tending a diver, his second day of employment with the diving contractor, had graduated from dive school that week). Evidence indicates that the tender let out approximately three times the usual amount of umbilical hose for this shallow a job thereby allowing the hose to slack and be drawn into the propeller. Without the failure of the vessel's transmission (Propellers engaged – even when not ‘in gear’ - when engine running to power crane) this accident would not have occurred. Additionally, the vessel's captain did not follow company protocol to completely jack the vessel out of the water. He further left the controls unattended while he operated the crane and agreed to position the vessel such that the divers had no real choice but to dive from the stern. All testimony in this case indicated that the propeller "free spin" phenomenon was common to jack up vessels. Witnesses testified as to having observed it previously on other vessels (there had been a similar transmission failure on a sister vessel). The USCG inspect for "free spin". The point vessel owner was aware of the potential danger and failed to warn anyone of such or follow any type of lockout/tag out system. The Delise and Hall concluded that there were seven serious root causes of the fatality:- 1. The dive supervisor's allowance of a work site near propellers without a "tag out – lock out" procedure in place. 2. The supervisor's ignorance concerning the layout of the vessel; 3. The vessel captain's failing to lift the vessel completely out of the water and to allow diving operations to commence with a dangerous "free spin" of the propeller caused by a faulty transmission and/or clutch; 4. The vessel captain's "cowing down" to the general contractor's direction; 5. Failure of the supervisor to follow established policies and procedures established by his employer's Safe Diving Practices Operations Manual; 6. Failure of the diving supervisor to establish and implement a Job Safety Analysis; 7. Failure of the dive supervisor assure that the tender was experienced and familiar with company and industry procedures. reported by Delise and Hall.
  219. 2005 7 30 Chapman John - entry 2 of 3 USA Triton 5 S/S Air John Chapman. The Incident:- The dive plan was to locate a leak in the pipeline, hand jet the pipeline to trace the line and determine if it could be lifted followed by a repair of the leak onboard the vessel.  Due to crossing lines, the main contractor directed that the damaged portion of the line be cut and a clamp installed. This required that the repaired section be lifted from bottom and replaced underwater utilizing divers and the vessel's crane. The three leg jack-up had its wheelhouse at its bow, hence the name "backup jack-up". Unlike conventional jack-up vessels, the propellers of the vessel are located at the opposite end of the vessel from the wheelhouse. The vessel was positioned stern to the platform. The vessel was not, as was required by the vessel owner's operation manual, fully jacked out of the water (which left the propellers in the water). The dive station was set up at the stern in close proximity to the vessel propellers. In order to lift the riser section, it was necessary to utilize one of the vessel's two cranes to lift the riser to the deck of the vessel. The gender felt a tug on the diver’s umbilical followed suddenly, without warning, by the umbilical being jerked from the tender's hand; witnesses testified that soon thereafter they heard the engine "bog" and "thump" under the vessel as the prop apparently struck the diver's helmet.  The dive supervisor, having lost communications with the diver, entered the water and found his lifeless body entangled in the vessel props. Reported by Delise and Hall
  220. 1991 12 17 Leager Christopher USA 5 S/S Air Aged 23, working an oyster bed in Chesapeake bay, one and a half miles off Kent Point, pronounced dead at the Anne Arundel Medical Centre. No details. The Washington Post
  221. 1990 0 0 Bonebaker Guus Netherlands GB Diving 5 S/S Air ETPM 1601, Dive basket on fixed rails, basket jammed during recovery, diver attempted to free it whilst surface pulled on lift wire, his head got trapped between cage/barge, broken neck
  222. 1989 7 12 Barnes Roger USA Louisville Water Company 5 Aged 32, Sludge clearing at the Crescent Hill Filter Plant, disappeared, sucked into a 24" pipe (Not wearing lifelines because both he and his dive partner decide not to use safety lines in case they got entangled on equipment in the basin), body recovered an hour later. Had bbeen working for the water company as a diver for 10 years but had no commercial qualifications. Reported in the Daily News
  223. 1954 7 29 Perkins RN PO John Singapore 5 Aged 35. Reported as drowned at the Seletar Naval Base (HMS Cossack?), Singapore, during diving exercises the day after seaman Charles Larkin died in a shark attack during a contraband search in Singapore harbour. The exercise was to remove mines from ship's hulls, his lifeline got entangled in the propeller shaft. Stand-by diver found him with his mask off, not breathing when recovered to deck, did not respond to treatment. Coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure. Straits Times
  224. 1950 4 21 Borden Ralph E USA 5 S/S Air Unemployed war veteran, aged 40. Reported as :- “Four boys aged about 13 were looking for a swimming hole along the Muddy Run Creek when they came across the veteran standing by the bank with a diving suit and pump. He told them he had heard a tale from an old man about a barrel of gold bars lying under 15' of water. The boys agreed to operate the pump but after about 15 minutes got tired and pulled him up but he was dead.� . He was pronounced dead of drowning. The Evening Independent
  225. 1930 4 21 Christopher Chris USA 5 S/S Air From Brooksville, working on the salvage of the luxury steam yatch "Zalophus" (125' steam yatch owned by entrepeneur - land developer - John Ringling en route to Useppa Island's famous 'Collier inn', sank in 12' of water on the night of 4th February 1930 after a collision with an unidentified object punched a hole in the hull. John Ringling was in New York on business and it was unclear at the time just who might have been onboard, Reports in 1958 claimed that then Mayor of New York city, Jimmy Walker - aged 49 and married - was onboard with his 'friend' Betty Compton - A showgirl aged 23). The judge, Arthur R. Clark, who examined the diver's remains decided an inquest was not necessary and that death resulted from natural causes. According to witnesses, the diver had gone down to just 16' when he gave the signal to pull him up. "He was not in the water more than three minutes on the dive. As he stepped on the ladder leading from the water to a floating dock he collapsed. He was dead when fellow workers removed his helmet and sent for authorities. It was stated that the diver had been in impaired health fot the previous two or three weeks suffering from bronchial trouble but had continued to work in his efforts to complete his contract. Operations to raise the yatch were to have been started within a few days. None of the offoicials inquirig into the affair, or employees of Ringling professed to know the diver's name until a press club man supplied it together with the information that he was between 60 and 65 years old, married and had several children. A doctor declared a hemorrhage caused death, undertakers took the body to Brooksville for interment. Searasota Herald-Tribune
  226. 1879 6 30 Clifford Paul Louis Australia 5 S/S Air Aged about 25 or 26, described as a powerful young man, engaged as a diver at the wreck of the barque 'bells' (Having presented himself as an experienced diver), completed three dives but on entering the water on a dive at around 2pm seemed to go the opposite way to where he had been instructed to go. Apparently signalled he was coming up followed by 'less air'. Did not surface and after 15 minutes the crew pulled him to the surface but he was dead. "It is supposed that deceased must have given a wrong signal and so come by his death". Reported in Papers Past, The Star.
  227. 1993 10 16 Roussy Eduardo Canada Oceantech (Quebec) 5 S/S Air Aged 26. Air diving quals from Fort William in 1992, also CSWIP 3.1. Accident occurred 15th October, Inspection dive at the Scott Paper plant on Crabtree dam, uncontrolled ascent and then swept over outfall, helmet still on and lifeline intact but umbilical severed, recued (It took between 5 and 10 minutes to pull him back to the dive site) but died in Montreal General hospital the next day (Life support removed as he was brain dead). Coroner criticised lack of planning, method of work, lack of co-ordination, inadequate risk assessment, lack of emergency response procedures. Cause of death recorded as asphyxiation/acute anoxic encephalopathy following severed umbilical, no physical injuries. No stand-by dressed in. Nobody realised umbilical severed and helmet was left on (disorganised rescue resonse, rest of team not familiar with the helmet locking system and couldn't unclamp it). Coroner noted that "everybody acted in good faith even though they did not know what to do (Factory workers helping out) which unfortunately resulted in a death that could have been avoided if the helmet had been removed quickly". Also home modified Dive Dynamics helmet - had a cross connector added so baliout gas would flow out into the umbilical as well as the hat (No check valve). Quebec Coroner's Report
  228. 2018 4 24 Castagnet Bastien France 5 Aged 28, working at the Mercues power station, run by EDF subsidiary 'Shema', trapped on inlet grill around 11:50 on 24th April 2018, pulled off by rescuers about 13:30, in cardio respiratory arrest, revived by paramedics and taken unconscious to Cahors hospital. No other details. Reported by Medialot. After being in a coma for two and a half years passed away on Saturday 3rd October 2020.
  229. 2010 9 6 Deep Sat Dive China Navy Medical Research Institute 491 Saturation 4 Chinese divers reported to have reached a storage depth of 480 metres with an excursion to 493 metres on heliox. The 'Atlantis' trials (Duke University, USA,) reached 686 metres in 1981, Comex ran a series of deep diving programmes (Physalie, Janus, Sagittaire, Hydra, etc) mostly in France and finally Aurora at the NHC in Aberdeen reaching 470 metres in 1993. The deepest took place in France in Toulon with the Hydra programme reaching 701 metres in 1992 (the diver was Theo Mavrostomos, 20th November 1992) using Hydreliox. Deepest hydreliox working dive is still Comex with a simulated pipeline intervention in the Mediterranean in 1988 with the Hydra 8 dives to 534 metres.
  230. 2007 10 17 Contreras Victor Lemus Chile Empresa Salmones Antártica 49 SCUBA Amateur Diver (He only had a license to dive to 20 meters), died in the Mallahue Culivation Center, in Achao Source: Ecoceanos, based on data from the Dir. of Labor, Directemar, Mariscope and the Tenth and Eleventh Regions District Attorneys Offices. No details
  231. 1972 0 0 Babbington James Australia 49 S/S Air From Eden, NSW, double fatality, diving with 'Megsy' for abalone off Black Head. No bailouts or secondary supply, no one on the surface, compressor cut out. Made it to the surface and got ashore to the Mallacoota Abalone divers co-op hyperbaric unit. Decompression was taken over by Australian Navy but died from decompression illness (Was overweight and had a history of DCIs - for which reason he had left the industry - but returned to diving following a price rise). Bubblesblower/Longstreath
  232. 1972 0 0 Megsy Australia 49 S/S Air From Eden, NSW, double fatality, diving with Jim Babbington for abalone off Black Head. No bailouts or secondary supply, no one on the surface, compressor cut out. Made it to the surface and got ashore to the Mallacoota Abalone divers co-op hyperbaric unit. Decompression was taken over by Australian Navy but Jim Babbington died from decompression illness (Was overweight and had a history of DCIs - for which reason he had left the industry - but returned to diving following a price rise). Megsy was asked to move the body to the entry lock but he became jammed in the door (rigor mortis/big man) so nobody could then lock in or out. Megsy then became ill and, assuming it was DCI, the Navy kept blowing him back down. Eventually, he lost comsciousness and died. Reported that actual cause of death was oxygen poisoning. Bubblesbloer/Longstreath
  233. 1887 0 0 Tester Spain 49 Diver engaged to recover the last box of treasure (9 of 10 had been salvaged in 1885) from the Spanish steamer 'Alphonso XII' which sank of Point Gando, Grand Canaria in February 1885. Salvage team was using Heinke equipment and had been on site four months, the deceased had made about 60 dives but on his last dive stayed down some 36 minutes and after a 10 minute break went down again for a further 10 minutes. At first seemed well but then complained of pain in his left arm. Taken ashore and 'the usual treatment in case of pressure attacks was resorted to". Not withstanding all the efforts to relieve him, he expired after suffering considerable, on the evening of the following day. Papers Past/The Aroha News (New Zealand)
  234. 1897 2 0 Madsen C Australia 48 S/S Air Danish, testing new diving gear (Engine driven air compressor ) from the steamer 'Swansea'. Diver keen to get full working depth of 30 fathoms but only had water depth of 29 fathoms. Attempt aborted when current was too strong, relocated inside harbour where there was a maximum water depth of 26 metres. Reduced air supply pressure from 40 psi to 1o 10 psi and then to 4 psi (on instruction from diver). Sank from sight. After no signals for 15 minutes (Although his attendant said he received signals until 3 minutes before he was recovered), he was hauled up (which took another 8 minutes), Unconscious, took another 5 minutes to get him out of his suit which was found to be a quarter full of water. Onboard doctor attending but did not respond. They concluded that 4 psi was not enough to maintain air flow at 26 fathoms (174') and that water had flooded his suit. Nelson Evening Mail
  235. 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.
  236. 1985 9 17 Devergie Francis Congo Comex 47 S/S Mixed Gas French, diving off the barge BOS 215, KM 17 came off (No safety pin incorporated into the design at that time). no details. PC
  237. 1975 6 14 Turner George W Norway Comex 46 SCUBA British, aged 37. Pipelay barge "Choctaw 1", meant to be doing a survey at max depth of 50m, seabed was 69m, slipped lifeline. Two divers entered water on SCUBA, supervisor returns to surface violently ill, puking, stand-by (also in SCUBA) entered water but also returned to surface violently ill and puking, second standby jumped on band mask, narked but located diver's body on seabed. Official report states 'food poisoning' though nobody else who ate in the galley reported any symptoms.................Bad gas???
  238. 2004 3 15 Bennett John Korea 45 SCUBA Trimix salvage operation
  239. 1954 9 17 Pepper Frank USA Merritt Chapman and Scott 45 Aged 46, working on installing one of six support piers for the Mackinac Straits Bridge, died in the decompression chamber. No details. Windsor Daily Star.
  240. 1939 8 23 Purdue, RN PO Henry Otho UK Military 45 S/S Air Aged 33, Reported as 'dying of the bends' during the salvage of the "Thetis" (Sank during sea trials in Liverpool Bay on the 1st June 1939 with the loss of 99 personnel). Because of the war, at the time, the entire tragedy was largely hidden from the public.Left surface at 06:33, On bottom 06:35 (At the stern to examine the propeller), returned to surface at 07:15, put into chamber for surface decompression. Surfacing had bbeen delayed by around 5 minutes when was fouled on a grapnel on his downline. Reported that he was unconscious when in the decompression chamber. The medics further reported that his lungs wrre congested (Diseased) and this had prevented him decompressing properly, cause of death listed as Asphyxia due to lack of oxygen during decompression owing to the diseased condition of the lungs. Thetis Families Association, navy archives, Glasgow Herald
  241. 1939 6 1 HMS Thetis UK Military 45 Submarine The “Thetis� arrived in Liverpool in May 1939, sea trials started on 1st June in Liverpool Bay with a tug in attendance. 59 crew, 2 caterers plus an additional 44 men aboard, bringing the complement up to 103. The boat began a dive but refused to go down. After other attempts and making some adjustments, with no other vessels in sight, the Captain ordered some of the Torpedo Tubes to be flooded. This action was not entirely successful, and suspecting that one tube had failed to flood, a valve on the tube hatch was opened to check for water. Nothing came out, and assuming the outer tube door had jammed, the hatch was opened. The valve was faulty, it was fouled with paint, and rush of water began to flood the compartment. The Torpedo room crew retreated to the next compartment and closed the hatch but it failed to work and the men from both sections retreated into the next chamber and the hatch closed. With two bow sections flooded and at a steep angle, they blew all the boats ballast tanks. The submarines bow struck the bottom, 150 feet below, leaving 18 feet of the stern above the surface. The nearest escape hatch, was just 20 feet below the surface, but following standard practice, it was not used until the vessel had been located. But the surface tug had lost track of the Submarine and it took over 17 hours for the Destroyer " Brazen " to find them, but with an emergency supply of air for just 24 hours, the extra men on board used it up at twice the rate. With rescue vessels on hand, 8 men evacuated (four drowned) before the hatches failed and the stern flooded forcing the tugs to cast off. Thetis sank with her remaining 95 men trapped onboard. Bad weather followed, making any attempt at salvage impossible. Salvage stated on 24th August (a navy diver, PO Henry Perdue, died during the operation 24/8/1939). The Submarine was recovered and refitted as the “Thunderbolt�, but suffered heavy damage during a depth charge attack in the Mediterranean and sank in over 3,000 feet of water. The only Submarine to sink twice, she cost the lives of 152 Officers and men in total. UK press and navy archives
  242. 1907 7 20 Trapnell Walter UK Military 45 S/S Air Reported as “A government diver� at an inquest held in Torquay. Diving operation on the wreck of the RN Torpedo boat 99 sunk off Torbay. Became entangled and was cut free by another diver (Leverett) after 2 hours and twenty minutes. Spent 2 hours at 50' 'staging' brought to the surface alive but 'died as a result of his long immersion' in hospital. Reported in the Nelson Evening Mail
  243. 1899 8 18 Baldwin William USA 45 S/S Air Second attempt to reach the wreck of the British ship 'Andelana' lying in 190' of water near Tacoma Harbour. “Death was due to some accident in the pumping gear which supplied the air� Reported in the Evening Telegram
  244. 2006 8 1 Erter Ryan USA 44 Vermillion VR 250, Remington Oil and Gas No formal reports are available yet. Diver apparently died in the deck chamber after recompression for suspected DCS ( on surfacing, complained of headaches and blurred vision) following a normally executed dive to approximately 150 FSW. Employer has released no information regarding the accident and the diving community awaits the reports from the Coast Guard and the MMS
  245. 2009 6 26 Not Recorded Honduras 43 SCUBA Paraphrased from press report:- “The Honduran indigenous community in La Mosquitia lives from the lobster catch. The export of the 'Panulirus argus' is also one of the most profitable Honduran exports, especially to the United States. During the lobster season, from August to May, most of the adult Miskito men dive, while younger males accompany them in small boats known as 'cayucos', floating alongside the bigger lobster boats. A study by the Honduran special ombudsman for ethnic groups and cultural heritage, sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), based in Washington, found that there are 4,200 divers living with injuries, nearly half the total Miskito diving population of 9,000. The Miskito men work 12 to 17 days out at sea, in five-hour diving sessions at depths of up to 43 meters. The annual death toll among Miskito lobster divers averages around 50, according to several reports.� IPS (Inter Press Service) NOTE, IF I ADD THESE DEATHS, 50 PER YEAR JUST SINCE 2000, THAT ADDS 500 DEATHS TO THE LIST TC
  246. 1984 8 16 Dawson Mark UK Oceaneering 43 S/S Air British, aged 22. DSV "Deurloo", Southern North Sea, Leman Field, using a drill, rope entangled in rotating drill, pulled off his KM 18 band mask, drowned
  247. 1975 3 1 Wilson Kevin UK CUE 43 SCUBA British, aged 20. Southern North Sea installation 49/27B, Leman field, pulmonary oedema caused by cardiac myopathy, heart failure, natural causes (Reported by JW as the last 1974 fatality, TC)
  248. 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
  249. 1993 2 12 Herpin Jude USA AOD 42 South Timbalier, Block 0152, 00464, Structure E, Chevron, "Cutting a window in the 10 ¾ inch casing. The surface personnel heard an explosion on the diver’s monitor. A standby diver went into the water immediately and when he reached the other diver he found him unconscious and his helmet off. The injured diver later died in the decompression chamber of cardiac arrest" OCS Incident database 1991-1994m page 65
  250. 1935 7 28 Mitsui Kioshichi Australia J & T Muramata 42 S/S Air Japanese pearl diver aged 54. Lugger 'Cleve' out of Darwin, working the beds off Bathurst Island diving to 18 and 23 fathoms both morning and afternoon. On surfacing in the afternoon, complained of paralysis, was put back into gear and lowered to 120' before being brought in stages towards the surface. After 35 minutes he came to the surface by himself was hauled onboard but found to be dead. Reposted to be the third diver employed by Australian pearling companies to have died and been brought ashore in Darwin but that two others on foreign boats had also died but been taken ashore in the Dutch east Indies bring the Total to 5 fatalities in July. Reported in the Sydney morning Herald
  251. 2010 7 24 Costello Patrick Germany Nordic Dive Enterprise 41 S/S Air 27 year old Swedish air diver working for a Danish contractor on a windfarm project in German waters. Reported as drowned in the last week of a six week diving job, had been airlifting from the DP II 'Maersk Tender', umbilical entangled one of the valves on the airlift. Did not activate his bailout, recovered to surface by the stand-by diver. Translated from German
Press reports dated Monday 26 07 2010:- “Diver dies when working in the offshore windfarm near Borkum. (Bard Offshore). The accident happened on Saturday at 40 meters in depth work. 'Aged 27, a professional diver from Sweden' said a police spokesman, confirming corresponding media reports�. Source: n-tv.de Other press reports indicate a possible lifting incident (TC)<br />UPDATE: The Danish Maritime Authority have released a Casualty Report regards this incident available from: http://www.dma.dk/news/Sider/Casualtyreportaboutdivingaccident.aspx<br />Also see topic in Incidents Diving Forum.
×

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept