Diver Death at Redondo

[gracefulc]

I'm dry this weekend but just saw this link on the news:

http://www.kirotv.com/news/19887340/detail.html

Anyone have any further info to provide? My sympathy to the diver's family and friends and the other divers involved. How sad...

[Nwbrewer]

That's not good. Pez, Pants and Spat were down there today, maybe they know more. Very sad for his family and friends. My condolences to everyone involved.

Jake

[Dusty2]

Not again!! This has not been a good year for divers.
So very sad, What can you say? It leaves a hole in my heart even though I may not know him. He was a member of our exclusive family and we are all saddened to have lost a fellow diver.

My condolences to all who will morn for him and for those left behind.

[BASSMAN]

I saw billandwende (Bill), on the TV broadcast, and I think he might have helped with the rescue attempt but I'm not sure.
He had to cancel a dive later today with me because of what I'm sure was both physical and mentally draining during an event such as this.
"No Problem Bill, what ever it is, let me know if there is anything I can do. Even if you just need someone to listen, You can call me anytime on my Cell phone tonight 253-241-5090"

If we wait on this one, I'm sure we will get the info we need, to learn what we can, from yet another divers untimely death.
My prayers go out to this deceased divers, family and friends during this time of loss.

[Jenbowes]

Sending out healing thoughts to the family, friends, and people involved in the rescue. May you all find peace and comfort in this heartwrenching time.

[ktb]

My friend Bishop (known as defied here) was also there, and he said it was not immediately clear if there had been a medical issue at depth or something else happened. My heart goes out to the diver's family as well as to everyone there who had to experience the heartache firsthand.

Always sad to lose another in the extended diving family.

[Pinkpadigal]

Bill called me earlier and asked me to call Bassman and cancel the dive. He was pretty shaken...said that he was trying to help but feared a diver died today. He just couldn't get words out and he promised he would call me later.

(Keith...sorry for waking you up. Hope you will forgive me.)

Bill just called me back a few minutes ago and gave me more information. He said he was hanging out at the back of his van and some bystanders said someone in the water was yelling for help. He geared up and headed down. He helped bring two divers in, but one of them was not breathing. Bill said, he thought one of the divers ran out of air.

Bill did not know who they were, other than they were dive buddies, and this was the first dive one of the divers did since he dove in Hawaii 4 months earlier. Both of them were older, and the man who died was in his 60's. Bill chatted with them a bit before their dive, and both of them are members of this club, but he couldn't remember what their names were. There were other divers that assisted but he could not remember who they were either.

I don't have any more info than this. Again, Bill is pretty shaken and upset and I think he will have more information once he can relax for a while. He was driving home when he called me.

[Dive 4 God]

My prayers also go out to the family and friends...
My husband left at around 4:30 from there....I'm sure he saw them go in the water..he actually spoke to some 'older' divers b4 they went in wishing them a good dive...
this sucks!

[spatman]

whatever happened did so right after dave (ordiver) and i left. we saw the fire truck and two police cars pass us as we made our way to I-5. i didn't think anything of it until Pez called a about 20 minutes later asking if we were ok...

i saw bill in the parking lot and we chatted a bit before we left... if we had lingered a little longer we would have been there to help as well...

i hope bill's ok, and my thoughts are with the victim's family.

[Norris]

Sad news indeed. My heart goes out to the family and friends.

[Gdog]

The wife and I must have just left there, about 4:30, 4:40. There were several divers there today, vis was good below about 30 fsw. We had to cut our dive short due to free flow from the wife's regulator. Sorry to hear, our prayers to the family.

[Pez7378]

Damn. I heard from Debbie (Mrs. Fishstiq) that the news was reporting a dive incident at Redondo. I called Spatman to see if they were okay. When I got home I checked all the news sites and didn't see anything. Sad. I was hoping it was something minor that wasn't newsworthy.

My condolences to the family and friends of the victim, my heart goes out to the survivors, and to the rescuers.

[Scubak]

Tragic...
My heart goes out to all of those involved.
Kirsten

[Joshua Smith]

I'm really sorry to hear about this. Spat sent me a text this evening about it. I feel bad for everyone involved, especially the survivors and rescuers.



Dive Safe, everyone.

[defied]

Tired of seeing this report every year. Deleting my post.

D

[H20doctor]

I just saw it on the news.. An older man in his 60's... Very sad , very very sad.. My prayers to the families, and friends... Such a tradjesty on a beatiful day to dive..

[BASSMAN]

Thanks for the details defied. And thanks to all who helped in this terrible situation. I hope you all take time to talk to someone to help register what happened in such a short time frame. If it was me, I know I would be rethinking everything to the point of questioning if I did everything right. But as I read your post, it looks as if, you all, did every thing like a well oiled machine. Just remember to take time to proccess it all.

Again prayers and condolances to the victim's family and friends


May you all find peace, in a time of sadness such as this.


Keith.

[billandwende]

Defied,

Thank you so much for your accounting of this tragic event. I could not have painted such a clear picture myself. You did much more than you give yourself credit for. As for the mystery rescuer I can not remember his name. I talked with him at length but was a bit messed up at the time. I know he took the day off work and was flying out of town in a 2 days. I can not recall where he was going. He drove a Toyota FJ in yellow with a Washington MARINE CORPS plate. He is a HERO. I hope to meet him again.

All I know of the victim is he was in his 60s and had a wife. The buddy of the Victim said he was a member of the board but I can not find any postings by him.

According to what the dive buddy said his partner and he were around 75 feet. He saw him do a flip like when you have too much air in your feet. Then he was holding onto the boat. And then he sank to the bottom. No bubbles. He grabbed him and shot to the surface but couldn't hold him and couldn't breath. This is where the HERO diver comes in. He was diving and saw the 2 fly up past him and decided he needed to help. He came up more controlled but quickly none the less. He found the one man choking and sinking. He inflated the mans BC and went back down for the victim. This is where Defied enters the picture. Gives up his mask and the buddy of the victim heads back down. Soon after the unknown hero pops back up with the victim. They head tward me. As we get close I am dispatched to look for the low on air panicked diver. As I'm going down up he pops. Way off to the north of me. He gives me an OK and keeps heading tward the beach side. I cant catch him but Defied once again comes swimming at break neck speed to him and guides him to shore. I'm glad you were there.

As far as divers talking to reporters I spoke with one and told him a good man died. I refused to go on camera and wouldn't give more. Well thats not exactly true, when asked where it happened, I told them out past the aquarium and pointed. This was way after the buddy had gone with the fire department. In the heat of the media we just kept telling them to go across the street.

The Fire department did an incredible job in trying to resuscitate the victim. They even came back and got his truck later. Gave me an update that the survivor was doing well and had made transportation arrangements and for someone to check him for DCS all through the night.




Now go tell someone how much they mean to you.

Take care everyone, Bill

[Scuba Scott]

Thank you for the informative report and your great effort. I'm not sure how well I would respond to this emergency if I were there. I do know that I would be blessed to have the same people there responding the way they did if I were the victim. My hat is off to you for your brave and immediate actions.

[ktb]

Now you all know why I feel blessed to have Defied as a diver friend. And why I am amazed and grateful to have joined such a wonderful "dive family" here in the Northwest. Again, my heart goes out to everyone involved, and everyone affected.

As Defied says . . . Keep your lungs dry. But also keep diving.

Kelly

[Mattleycrue76]

I don't really know what to say, it seems impossible to find the right words. My thoughts are with the family of the victim. And if disaster should ever strike me I can only hope to have guys like you around. Thank you for everything you did to help a fellow diver and human being.

[BDub]

I'm so sorry you guys had to go through that, but it sounds like you did everything you possibly could. If doubt should start to enter your minds, don't allow yourselves to second guess your actions. You did all you could, and you did it well.

My condolences to the victim's family.

[dwashbur]

Around 3 AM this morning while chenari and I were driving back here from Idaho, we heard a brief story of this on the radio. They said the ME will be doing an autopsy to determine what happened.

If I ever have an incident/accident, I want you guys nearby! And I hope that if I'm nearby when one happens, I can keep as cool a head and be as dedicated. Thanks for sharing, and especially for being there and willing to put yourselves on the line for this man.

[TCWestby]

Wow, nice work team!

Condolences to the guy's family and friends. I sure hope you guys are around if I ever need assistance.

Thanks for the detailed report.

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for the first person After Action Report. That is so incredibly valuable to all of us.

Good On Ya for a job well done. We never know when we will be called on to respond to something unusual. Just choosing to respond and not, as I have seen, just turn away and leave it to someone else is a gigantic testimonial to your attitudes and abilities.