It seems a lot of accidents are caused by forgetting to dump weights. I think from now on I will make it a point to add a reminder to my buddy and myself during the final check before entering the water..."If in trouble ditch the weight!!"
Sincere condolences to the mans' wife and kids.
From Yahoo ....
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/kenai...-9249634c.html
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@...
(Published: September 27, 2007)
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.
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.