Dive Buddies & Panic kills!

Alaska SeaLife Center diver dies in training

Associated Press - September 26, 2007 10:34 AM ET

SEWARD, Alaska (AP) - A 44-year-old diver with the Alaska SeaLife Center has died during a scientific training session in Resurrection Bay.

Alaska State Troopers say Matthew Myers of Anchorage died yesterday (Tuesday) after signaling to his diving partner that his tank had run out of oxygen.

Myers was part of a two-person team diving near Fox Island.

A person identified only as a "master diver" surfaced successfully.

But troopers say Myers was not able to manipulate his secondary air supply or take off his weight belt as instructed.

According to troopers, both divers began swimming to shore, but then Myers slipped under the water and did not resurface.

SeaLife Center divers and searchers located Myers an hour after he went missing.

Panic kills and his buddy was not able to give him air? But then again if he was on the surface he didn't need it if he could have removed his belt, but panic took over! Out of air didn't kill him panic did! And his buddy couldn't save him!

Panic may have led to death

EXPERIENCED: The SeaLife Center scientist apparently had trouble with his weight belt.

By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com

Published: September 27, 2007
Last Modified: September 27, 2007 at 12:04 PM

An Alaska SeaLife Center diver who died in Resurrection Bay after his tank ran out of air may have panicked while trying to remove his weight belt, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday.
Click to enlarge

Matthew Myers, 44, died Tuesday near Fox Island about 5 miles from Seward while he and a dive master, Bob Hicks, were out on a training dive, part of a series that would have certified Myers as a scientific diver, said Tim Dillon, a SeaLife Center spokesman.

Myers was certified as an open-water diver in 1982 and was certified an advanced diver in 1984, Dillon said. Becoming a scientific diver involves the same skills, with the added requirements of knowing how to collect samples while diving in certain conditions, among other things.

The pair was alone underwater when Myers ran out of air and signaled to Hicks that he needed to surface, troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said.

"There's a red flag right there," said Stephen Jewett, the University of Alaska's diving safety officer. "If he's truly out of air, then he can't inflate his buoyancy compensator. If he couldn't get his weight belt off, he's going to go back down."

The men surfaced, but then Myers apparently began to panic, Ipsen said. Even for an experienced diver, some degree of panic is not uncommon, Jewett said.

"Most people that have a fair amount of experience under their belts can grapple with that, but we just don't know exactly what happened," he said.

Hicks switched their tanks so that Myers had the fuller one and asked Myers to take his weight belt off, Ipsen said. Myers for some reason was unable to do so.

The pair began trying to swim to shore. Their boat was still anchored, Dillon said, but depending on their dive pattern, they might have surfaced closer to the shore than to the boat.

When Myers went below the surface, Hicks thought he was again trying to remove the belt, Ipsen said. But Myers never came up.

"(Hicks) couldn't go after Myers right away because he had the empty tank," Ipsen said.

Hicks swam back out to the boat and radioed for help, Dillon said.

Coast Guard and Seward Fire Department crews responded, along with SeaLife Center divers. They recovered Myers' body after about 90 minutes, Ipsen said.

He was transported to Providence Hospital in Seward, where he was pronounced dead at about 2:15 p.m. His body was released to his family by the state medical examiner later that night, Ipsen said.

Dillon said the SeaLife Center is awaiting the results of the investigation before it comments on the specifics of what happened. A diving computer that Myers wore on the outing will be among the evidence examined, he said.

The SeaLife Center has 25 regular divers who conduct about 100 open-water dives each year, Dillon said. Jewett, who works closely with the center, said he has known Hicks for years and called him a highly competent diver.

Reached at his home Wednesday night, Hicks wouldn't comment, saying the accident was still too recent.

Myers was finishing up a master's degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks' School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Dillon said, and he was working at the SeaLife Center as a marine mammal scientist. He had been employed there since 2001, Dillon said.

"He was a very experienced diver," said Jessica Huebert, Myers' cousin. "I'm sure whoever was there was doing their best. I'm not blaming anyone, but this just seems kind of strange."

Myers leaves behind a wife and two children, Huebert said.

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Originally Posted by Papa Bear

". . . but this just seems kind of strange."

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I'll say.

Wouldn't you think he signalled on the bottom when he was getting low enough on air to make him concerned? Not when he was completely out. Of course he may have emptied his tank by the time they reached the surface. Why did his partner not drop his weight belt for him, orally inflate his BC for him, if he was unable to do these things himself? Why did they switch tanks? And if they had time to switch tanks and do some swimming, does that make it sound like an embolism is unlikely?

Well, things do happen and thats my point, you have to be ready! You should practice inflating your BCD manually! You should practice ditching your belt! An a tank on the surface should have enough to fill a BCD, one would think by virtue of volume increase! We will have check to see what comes out!

Y'all are using newspaper reports that I know are erroneous to reach conclusions that as a result can't be any better. The incident is under investigation by highly competent authorities and, in time, I expect you will know more about this incident than any other that you've ever come across. Be patient.

Agreed, But thats all we have until the smoke signals are read!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Papa Bear

Agreed, But thats all we have until the smoke signals are read!

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Sounds like mental masturbation to me, but as long as we're swapping homilies: "Empty barrels make the most noise."

Are we shooting fish?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thalassamania

Y'all are using newspaper reports that I know are erroneous to reach conclusions that as a result can't be any better. The incident is under investigation by highly competent authorities and, in time, I expect you will know more about this incident than any other that you've ever come across. Be patient.

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Well, we are hopefully discussing the information as presented to try and learn. I have noticed that you often hear of reports of dive accidents and all the sensationalism that surrounds them, but I can't ever remember hearing the outcome of a dive accident investigation to follow up the original report. The media has usually moved on by then, I guess.

I have always been able to get the details of incidents that interested me.