[Mr T.]

Diver lacked safety equipment

Tether, air tank not worn during pipe inspection

By Andy Reid
Staff Writer
Posted June 4 2005


Ciro Cardenas Jr. did not strap on an air tank before lowering himself into a water-filled drainage pipe Thursday, police said.

Cardenas, 29, also did not put on a mask or attach a safety line before he sank below the surface into a 36-inch diameter pipe he was checking for blockage, according to a Boca Raton police report.


Clearing the drainage line next to the Vistazo townhouse development was part of Cardenas' job. But why he risked entering the 250-foot-long pipe to a retention pond and how he got stuck and died remained the investigation's focus Friday.

Even with the correct equipment and more help, trying to swim through the drainage pipe would have been dangerous, said George Horne, who oversees dive crews for the South Florida Water Management District.

"If you put yourself in a small hole, you can't back up. ... You can't turn around," said Horne, director of operations and maintenance for the water district. "You could be in trouble."

Cardenas worked for a Lennar Corp. subcontractor at the Vistazo development, said Marshall Ames, Lennar's vice president of investor relations.

Representatives of Cardenas' employer, Shenandoah Construction, told police that entering the water-filled pipe was against company policy. They could not be reached for comment Friday, despite attempts by phone.

"There are inquiries being made into what he was doing and why he was doing it," Ames said. "At this moment we just don't have those answers."

The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration planned to continue interviewing Shenandoah officials and workers before deciding whether company practices violated federal standards, OSHA representative Zachary Barnett said Friday.

"We are trying to get an idea for the scope of work being done out there ... so that we can make an assessment," Barnett said.

Cardenas, who worked for Shenandoah for five years, lowered himself into the drainage pipe in the 3900 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, police said.

A vacuum truck driver working with Cardenas told police that Cardenas in the past entered pipe openings to try to break up obstructions.

The driver told police that he told Cardenas it was not necessary to enter the pipe, but Cardenas went in anyway.

Cardenas had about 20 minutes of air available.

When Cardenas didn't emerge from the water 20 minutes later, the driver called his boss and then police, according to the report.

Rescue dive crews found Cardenas 41/2 hours later lying on his side in the pipe where soot and sand had collected at both ends.

Investigators were trying to determine Friday whether Cardenas, who was wearing a wet suit, used his own air tank to check the pipe.

Using divers to check and clear drainage pipes is an accepted practice, but whether Cardenas had the proper training for such a dive was not known Friday, Barnett said.

Cardenas would have needed special training to prepare for a "penetration" dive, said dive instructor Trevor Wichman of Pura Vida Divers on Singer Island.