One of our members and champion freediver Foivos Diakogiannis wanted to share this message with all.
Greetings from Greece! I hope you are all great and enjoying top times in Sydney.
Today I found these sad news for one of our fellow divers which I need to share with you.
http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/2331924/diver-airlifted-to-canberra-in-induced-coma-photos-and-video/?cs=203
I am very happy that I just read that the diver is recovering and he is ok!
Unfortunately the articles does not give many information on the event. He was found unconscious in 12m depth (at the bottom). 99.99% this was a black out with no safety dive buddy.
Definition of safety diver/dive buddy: One who watches a diver throughout all of the divers dive, i.e. never looses sight/information on where the diver is. A guy that is fishing 5/10m away from another diver and does not pay attention during a dive, is a great mate, but not a safety diver.
From experience I have from freediving competitions it is most likely (probable) that what happened to him happened either at the surface or very close to the surface. Then the diver being unconscious descended (maybe too many weights, or he lost air and became negative in terms of buoyancy) . After that, somebody found him – we don’t know how much time passed until he was found.
It is unlikely that there was a dive buddy watching him throughout his dive and lost him during the dive. If this was the case the dive buddy / safety diver would find him immediately and would only need to keep his head out of the surface and he would start breathing again on his own.
Once the black out happens, the diver stays unconscious and does not breath for a very short period of time (about a minute?) After that as a reflex he starts having contractions that result – if underwater – water into the lungs from which point and on recovery becomes very difficult.
Now the majority of you guys have start having hi-tech diving equipment that allows you to stay longer and dive deeper into the water. I would please like to ask you to consider – at least for competitions – to have a dive buddy system. Otherwise I am afraid we may start having more often dive accidents – I hope we’ll never EVER see one ever again!!! – related to breathhold black outs. Diving in a competition without a safety diver is something like driving a racing car without a seat belt. And I am sure nobody wants to drive a racing car without a seat belt.
Lot’s o love from Greece guys!
Foivos
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