YBOD cave accident in France

[Drmike]

Reports are coming in that a cave diver has had a non fatal accident on his YBOD in France

Some details below from the insp list -


"Near Fatal Accident during rebreather cave dive"

The posting refers to a cave dive with two rebreather divers one of whom
(diver B) was using what is referred to as an old style Inspiration.
Towards the end of the dive, diver A turns round to see that diver B has
switched to open circuit and breathing from a stage bottle, but is lying
on the cavern floor apparently unconscious. He comes to his senses after
a shake from his buddy. Diver B continues on OC and they exit the water
safely.

Post dive inspection of the unit reveals that the scrubber is solid and
is full of water.

The writer then speculates on what might have caused this:

CO2 contact during the drive to the dive site?

Water ingress due to faulty O ring or cracked canister?

Duff sofnolime?


His buddy (diver A) is reported to be Dr Jerome Meynie (snoopyloop.com) who dives a MK15.5 and holds the deepest CCR cave dive record of around 180m IIRC.

Very glad to hear its looking like a non fatal accident.

[Mark Chase]

From what I have read about CO2 hits it’s amazing he managed to switch to OC. I wonder if the mouthpiece was left open after the switch causing the total flood of the can? Perfectly understandable if bonged stupid on Co2. I was taught that gurgling in the can gave plenty of warning of a flooded scrubber so surely that’s unlikely to be the primary failure?

All speculation but I will be interested to see what comes out of this. I wonder just how long they were pushing the scrubber before the incident.

ATB

Mark Chase

[PrettyFishies]

Having managed to establish communications with Rick Stanton whom is currently with Jerome in France, it appears that the accident did not in fact happen to Jerome Meynie but an Inspiration diver who can remain nameless for now.

[NotDeadYet]

Jerome's report is at www.plongeesout.com in the Forum section. I already spoke to him.

[Mdemon]

Glad the guy got away with it, whatever the circumstances.

[Rob Evans]

The chap concerned has posted this on the list.

.................................................. ..................
I have just sat down to write to you all but was amazed to discover my little
snooze in a cave had already been reported.

What happened was this, my buddy (who was using a Mk15.5) and I were
diving at Cabouy last thursday. It was our second dive that day and my
scrubber was fresh that morning with less than 2 hours on it. I turned the
dive after 20 minutes because I was getting cold and we started heading
out. About 10 mins from the exit in around 20-25m, descending slowly toa
30m bit, I started getting a headache and also noticed I was panting. I
breathed out through my nose and refreshed the loop through the ADV but I
still felt funny. I also was having problems concentrating and seeing the
line so I went for my bailout (which was bungied to a sidemount) and also
started doing a proper dil flush. I fumbled with my reg, which worried me
and I knew I had a problem, so I yanked it out. The next bit was that I
found myself on the cave floor, having taken the mouth piece out of my
mouth, and closed it, and was holding my reg. I don't remember this bit so
I think I blacked out for a second or two. Obviously I stuck the reg in my
mouth, signalled my buddy I was ok and we swam out. I didn't need to be
shaken by anyone, and to be honest it happened so quickly I don't think
anyone could have helped me quicker than I helped myself.

Prior to this the unit was working fine, PPO2 was 1.3 and no other
problems. Once out of the cave I went back on the loop for a few mins to
make sure it was still working and it was. This was the first time I have
had to bail out in 3 1/2 years so I was fairly certain there was nothing
wrong with the unit and it wasn't an oxygen related problem so it had to
be CO2, I also had all the classic CO2 symptoms.

When I stripped it down, the scrubber was fairly solid, although there was
no extra water in the loop. The unit also had no leaks and indeed I dived
it the next day for 1 1/2 hours to 50m in Ressel with no problems.

I believe this was a CO2 problem caused by either, (a) I overpacked the
scrubber, just by being careless, or (b) I have some faulty sofnalime.
This was a new tub I opened on the trip and I did think I had had some CO2
problems earlier in the week so I had changed the scrubber then and had no
more problems until this one. I will send a sample of the sofnalime to AP
and ask them to check it. My gut feeling is I overpacked the scrubber so
the learning point is pay attention to what you are doing when setting the
unit up and don't rush or try to do two things at once.

My unit by the way is getting old nowadays but I had new sensors and
electronics fitted on July, and I had the lungs checked out in Feb to make
sure they were ok. It also always passes its pressure tests, has never
given me a problem in the past and I use it almost every week so I really
think there is nothing wrong with it. It had obviously passed all its test
that morning before diving.

That is about it really, I don't consider it a major problem nor a 'near
fatal accident', but it is a timely reminder to watch out for CO2 and
always have a valid bailout plan which is suitable for the circumstances.

>>And a follow-up

Just to clarify I am using AP sensors and they were new in February. The
electronics were upgraded in August and the sensors checked then so there
is no problem with the elecronics. Also my spacer and o ring were ok and
the or ing was lubricated so the cannister slid up and down. I also
checked the mouth piece afterwards and it was ok. I am going to replace
the o rings to be on the safe side but as I say I don't think the problem
was here. Its either duff sofnalime or I over packed it and as I said I
will send a sample to AP to check it.

[Duncan Price]

Originally Posted by Rob Evans

The chap concerned has posted this on the list.

<snip>
Its either duff sofnalime or I over packed it and as I said I will send a sample to AP to check it.

Just for clarification can someone explain the business about over packing the scrubber?

[beanie]

Originally Posted by Duncan Price

Just for clarification can someone explain the business about over packing the scrubber?

er no

neither can molecular products who say you can't overpack the scrubber unless you bust the scrubber

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Duncan Price

Just for clarification can someone explain the business about over packing the scrubber?

There are some people who seem to believe that shaking down the fill and compacting it is a bad move so they tip it in, give it a quick tap and that's done. The view was vogue for a while. However the makers of the stuff say this is a bad move and promotes channelling and AP say it does not increase the Work Of Breathing so we tend to continue with the pat-pat-turn ritual until it stops moving.
Frankly I'd rather have another heart attack than a big CO2 hit. At least my brain stays on line and I can try and do something about it.

nigelH

[Duncan Price]

Originally Posted by beanie

er no

neither can molecular products who say you can't overpack the scrubber unless you bust the scrubber

So let me see, if you cop it on a YBOD then you've had a "heart attack", if you have a to do but don't die then you've "overpacked the scrubber".

Hmm - just being devils advocate.

CO2 hits are not nice - sometimes its preceeded by a feeling of impending doom - mind you I get that as soon as I'm on the loop.