wow thats horrible. yea i dont see how they exchanged gear but not removed a belt... better believe if he couldnt have i would ahve cut that thing off of him. that or manually inflate BCs... dunno....
rescue class taught me to forget the price of gear, if you have to, take it all off and let it float off.. then search or go buy new stuff.. i imagine he was in a wetsuit so minus weights and bc/setup he would have been fine..
its just sad tho, hate to hear about losin a diver
