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ATOT divers: why'd this guy die?

Norwood "began having difficulty breathing" as the divers descended toward the wreck and was unable to be rescuscitated, according to The History Channel.

"He reported he was out of air, but he had reserve tanks," Cassel told the newspaper. "We are not sure why he did not switch to his reserve tanks."

Chatterton and Crowell shared their oxygen with Norwood, but he lost consciousness and drowned on the way to the surface, the paper reported.
 
because he ran out of air on his way down, and then couldn't make it up in time, so he drowned and was unable to be resuscitated.


I think it states that plainly?
 
Originally posted by: fumbduck
because he ran out of air on his way down, and then couldn't make it up in time, so he drowned and was unable to be resuscitated.


I think it states that plainly?
Click to expand...
Not really. I'm looking for someone experienced that can shed some insight into whether this was medical or mechanical.


 
he had reserve tanks, so he didn't run out of air.
maybe his regulator went bad, but he should have had an octopus
 
Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Originally posted by: KGB
"We are not sure why he did not switch to his reserve tanks."
Click to expand...

Kinda explains it there doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Is it hard to switch? Do they share common valves? How long do you have to switch before you're effected adversly? etc...
Click to expand...

It's not particulary hard, but if he was out of oxygen, at the same time feeling pain from the pressure of the water, plus the inability to quickly turn on the reserves he's pretty much screwed.

Maybe the other divers didn't pay much attention to him, until they noticed something was array. Who knows he could have had an brain aneurysm.
 
Just guessing. A friend of mine is a tugboat captain pulling barges to Oahu, in the
same building as he works out of is America Divers. They do salvage & repair, not
alot of deep water stuff.

250' is a long way down to be working, as in exerting ones self. He probably had too many dives and was exhausted and disoriented. We will never really know. Divers
do not talk to openly about "accidents."
 
Strange, but it sounds like he may have been suffering from some kind of medical issues as well... since these guys were carrying reserve tanks etc, and clearly diving with other experienced divers, it's likely that they all did the right things in the situation. Most good, experienced divers are very methodical and careful when a situation arises. The problem is that in a true emergency, you tend to freak out - which is why most of the basic dive certification revolves around various emergency situations.. You really just practice having something bad happen to you, so that hopefully when it happens in real life, you know how to calmly deal with it. Just as a for instance, if you're swimming around following your buddy, it's inevitable that one of these times his/her flipper will catch you in the face and either rip off your mask or yank your regulator out of your mouth. The first time it happens, it's really unnerving - but after you've been diving a while, it is much less of a big deal - you just stop, think, and take very deliberate actions to fix the situation.
 
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