Commerical Diver Dies In Biloxi Sep 7, 2007

[mcc2318]

From WLOX News,
Five days a week, professional divers dredge underneath the IP Casino barge with big vacuum hoses sucking silt from underneath the barge. During Tuesday's operation, a diver experienced mechanical problems with his head gear. Now that diver is in critical condition.
"They noticed that he was absent. They have communications with the divers, said he was having problems. They went looking for him, found him and pulled him out, started CPR," said Biloxi Police Captain Harold Windom.
Another diver, Scott Ruhlman, was working on another diving project near by, when he was pulled off that job to help in the rescue of the IP Casino diver.
"Apparently his hat came off his head. And the supervisor, I was down there, said he heard him say, 'My hat came off, what do I do?' That's the last he heard of him. He kind of heard a loud gurgling noise where something wasn't right," Ruhlman told WLOX News.
By the time Ruhlman arrived on the scene, the diver in trouble was located and pulled from the water. He helped provide CPR.
"The welders were over there, the welders helped us and we probably did CPR 10 or 15 minutes and the ambulance came and started everything," Ruhlman said.
Ruhlman said this kind of diving operation isn't generally dangerous.
"It's pretty safe. We've got a lot of backup, we have emergency backups, two of them. With accidents like this, you know, it's scary," Ruhlman said. "You're down in an area where you can't see anything. It's underneath the casino barge. If the hat comes off your head, you can't see anything. It's a scary situation."
Federal safety investigators are looking into the accident. The maintenance project to clear the IP Casino barge of silt has been on going since Hurricane Katrina.

The diver injured working underneath the IP Casino barge Tuesday died Thursday night.
According to Coroner Gary Hargrove, 22-year-old Robert J. Harris of Biloxi died at Biloxi Regional Hospital.
Harris's breathing apparatus malfunctioned when he was under the barge using vacuum hoses to dredge silt. After ten minutes of searching, he was pulled out by co-workers.
Federal investigators have been called to look into the diving accident

[Chad]

Very sad.

[FishFood]

When he says his "hat" fell off, what's that refering to?

[CaribbeanDiver]

very sad. and so young, too. I feel for him and his family.

[mcc2318]

hat is commercial diver slang for helmet, they dive using surface supplies air so they can stay down as long as it takes to finish a job

[navyhmc]

First off, my condolences to all involved.

A few things strike me as odd on that: 1. How is it that a Comm Diver did not take the proper steps to ensure that his helmet would not come off?

2. Since the communication gear is in the helmet, how could he ask what to do?

3. Why did he not know what to do if he lost he helmet?

I would be interested in what the results of the investigation are.

[FishFood]

2. Since the communication gear is in the helmet, how could he ask what to do?

Thats what Im caught up on to...

Either way, it's an unfourtunate tragedy.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

First off, my condolences to all involved.

A few things strike me as odd on that: 1. How is it that a Comm Diver did not take the proper steps to ensure that his helmet would not come off?

2. Since the communication gear is in the helmet, how could he ask what to do?

3. Why did he not know what to do if he lost he helmet?

I would be interested in what the results of the investigation are.

I would assume he meant the hat was coming off, meaning it came unlatched, probably saying that as it was flooding...

#3 is amazing, and a great question.... It seems to me there would be no reason to ask what to do, as proper training would mean he knew what to do and shouldn't be asking, instead, I'd be requesting help to get out of there...

[mcc2318]

one of the guys that was on my psd team thinks he had just graduated from commerical dive school and was still an diver/tender

[Ohio_diver16]

This is quite upsetting! I'm going to school for commercial diving in April, I know it's dangerous, but I love the water and physical labor. For all divers I hope more training gets taken into account when doing something new or unfamiliar.