Darwin says, "Accepted into the Archive."

As recently certified scuba divers my husband and I purchased dive insurance from DAN - the Divers' Alert Network. With the membership and insurance comes a magazine called Alert Diver. The March/April 2007 issue contains a review of our-of-air accidents called Breathless on the Bottom. One accident is described as follows: "An experienced 47 year old rescue diver was making an underwater video on a wreck. To keep the audio track of his recording clear, the diver turned off all the alarms on his dive computer. Through-out the dive, his buddy was engaged in similar activity on the other side of the wreck. The diver descended to a depth of 148 feet (44 meters). Some 16 minutes into the dive, he realized he wes out or air. He made a rapid ascent up the anchor line from 140 feet (42 meters) to 60 feet (18 meters). There, the divemaster tried to assist him. For some reason, however, the diver refused to take an alternate air source and appeared confused. The divemaster assisted him to the surface. At this point, he lost consciousness and could not be revived. The cause of death was listed as 'air embolism due to rapid ascent, insufficient air'."

This diver violated 2 of the first and most important safety rules taught to beginning divers - Always stay within arm's reach of your buddy, and pay close attention to your gauges. (Dive computers contain gauges which measure air consumption, depth, safe bottom time remaining, and other useful life-saving information). It is also worth noting that a dive to 148 feet exceeds the depth limit considered safe for recreational diving (120 feet) and warrants special training and extra safety considerations, with which our experienced rescue diver would have been very familiar. His deliberate carelessness and disregard for basic safety precautions qualify him for a Darwin Award.

Submitted on 04/04/2007

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Alert Diver Magazine March/April 2007

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Chip said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Looks like a Darwin to me, but it could benefit from a more humorous write up. I'll wait and see what my fellow moderators say about it. Thanks for submitting the story, and I hope you and your husband have many hours of enjoyable dives ahead of you. Watch those gauges!

James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Diving is fraught with inherent dangers, but what gets me here is the REASON for turning off the air alarm! This cat's priorities were all mixed up! I would think that one's alarm is a BIT more important than a clear audio track, and this fellow's experience gives him NO excuse whatsoever! I'll go DA on this one!

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Darwin Award
I agree that this could use a more humorous writeup but it's also a pretty clear contender for a DA. This guy was an experienced rescue diver, and he purposely turned off the dive computer alarms just to make a pristine recording? Well he got his wish. Too bad he won't be able to enjoy it.

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I'm with James. Death due to arrogant stupidity.

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