[Hodge Podge]

I just received an e-mail today.

"We just completed the Dec 15-22 Itinerary and they lost a crew member on our last night dive, I posted all the details but he may have been really deep. He has not been recovered and I know the captain and lieutenant mentioned that they are not really equipped to deal with a Rebreather incident at depth."

On Thursday 12/20 during a night dive, a crew member was lost at the Que Brada dive site (I believe it's near Long Caye). There were about 15 guests on the Belize itinerary and we were nearing our last day of diving. Most of the divers were in the water around 8PM and back on board around 9PM. Many questions are unsolved and crew member was not recovered. He may have been diving alone, possibly below recreational limits, crew members say he was not wearing an glow stick or nighttime identifier. Crew members also said his computer may have been broken and he was not diving with a computer or a depth gauge. Another guest, also diving alone and at 92 feet along the wall, may have seen his light much farther down the wall. It was not unusual for this person to take nearly 2 hour dives so it didn't become apparent that something might have happened until around 10pm.

While the guests that were awake watched the surface from the boat, the crew sent out two skiffs and searched the nearly glass calm waters for hours in several patterns. They sent divers in to check under the boat and pontoons and towards the area that he may have last been seen on the wall. The Belizean Coast Guard was called, though hours later they indicated there was fog in Belize City and they could not send out a helicopter after all. In the morning at first light, several members of the crew went out to search the wall and around the boat to no avail. The Belizean Coast Guard did not show up until somewhere around 2pm the next day with a plane, chopper and search boat but found no signs of the missing diver. A crew member said they would continue searching for him for the next 3 days.

There are so many unanswered questions that may remain unanswered. There are so many "rules of diving" that were not followed and I hope people will keep this in mind when they let their experience get the best of them. He was really a great member of the crew and we were very saddened by this incident.

Sadly the crew had to pick up another group of people on Saturday and head back out, I hope they are all doing okay because it's finally hitting us.

UPDATE
ScubaBoard posted that this was not a Rebreather incident but OC.

[wedivebc]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Hodge Podge)

I just received an e-mail today.

"We just completed the Dec 15-22 Itinerary and they lost a crew member on our last night dive, I posted all the details but he may have been really deep. He has not been recovered and I know the captain and lieutenant mentioned that they are not really equipped to deal with a Rebreather incident at depth."

On Thursday 12/20 during a night dive, a crew member was lost at the Que Brada dive site (I believe it's near Long Caye). There were about 15 guests on the Belize itinerary and we were nearing our last day of diving. Most of the divers were in the water around 8PM and back on board around 9PM. Many questions are unsolved and crew member was not recovered. He may have been diving alone, possibly below recreational limits, crew members say he was not wearing an glow stick or nighttime identifier. Crew members also said his computer may have been broken and he was not diving with a computer or a depth gauge. Another guest, also diving alone and at 92 feet along the wall, may have seen his light much farther down the wall. It was not unusual for this person to take nearly 2 hour dives so it didn't become apparent that something might have happened until around 10pm.

While the guests that were awake watched the surface from the boat, the crew sent out two skiffs and searched the nearly glass calm waters for hours in several patterns. They sent divers in to check under the boat and pontoons and towards the area that he may have last been seen on the wall. The Belizean Coast Guard was called, though hours later they indicated there was fog in Belize City and they could not send out a helicopter after all. In the morning at first light, several members of the crew went out to search the wall and around the boat to no avail. The Belizean Coast Guard did not show up until somewhere around 2pm the next day with a plane, chopper and search boat but found no signs of the missing diver. A crew member said they would continue searching for him for the next 3 days.

There are so many unanswered questions that may remain unanswered. There are so many "rules of diving" that were not followed and I hope people will keep this in mind when they let their experience get the best of them. He was really a great member of the crew and we were very saddened by this incident.

Sadly the crew had to pick up another group of people on Saturday and head back out, I hope they are all doing okay because it's finally hitting us.

Will post more as details become available

Thank you for posting this. We are praying for a good outcome.