Death at the Blue Hole

[And]

Hi

Saw this on another forum. It just beggars belief!


"A couple of days ago Dahab's Blue Hole saw its latest fatality. Like most of the the Blue Hole's victims, this person was attempting an extremely deep dive on air, and to top it off, with a single 11.3 liter aluminium cylinder. Furthermore, he was diving solo.

There were three divers in the water, one Egyptian guide and two Russians. All three divers were equipped with standard recreational gear. The guide and one of the Russians dived to 60m, as is unfortunately very common in the Blue Hole, while the second Russian attempted a solo dive to 100 meters.

10 years ago, when technical diving practices were almost unknown in the Red Sea, I might not have viewed such accidents with the contempt that I do now. The fact is that today, There are dive centers all over Egypt where one can receive the training, equipment, and services necessary to dive at those depths with an acceptable degree of risk. So there is no excuse, even for adrenalin seekers, to attempt such folly.

While there are always people who will show up at dive resorts and express a desire to do these dives, it is up to the dive center staff to either prevent such dives from happening, or to use the opportunity to offer technical dive training to the individual (assuming that the person has a genuine interest in deep diving and is not simply suicidal or has other mental issues).

Too many divers have died in the Blue Hole, usually under similar circumstances to those described above. I wish that Dive Centers and local authorities in Dahab would take responsibility and begin taking steps to restrict deep air diving at this site."

Andy

[FOX]

It's really sobering going there and seeing all the plaques on the cliff side, you would of thought that those alone would be enough of a warning as to the dangers of the Blue Hole, obviously not.

It's a shame, but a predictable outcome to such a foolhardy dive.

[Fiona]

"A couple of days ago Dahab's Blue Hole saw its latest fatality. Like most of the the Blue Hole's victims, this person was attempting an extremely deep dive on air, and to top it off, with a single 11.3 liter aluminium cylinder. Furthermore, he was diving solo.

There were three divers in the water, one Egyptian guide and two Russians. All three divers were equipped with standard recreational gear. The guide and one of the Russians dived to 60m, as is unfortunately very common in the Blue Hole, while the second Russian attempted a solo dive to 100 meters.


Andy

Oh, dear What more is there to say. Why oh why do people think this is acceptable.

[Dr Stevil]

Hi

Saw this on another forum. It just beggars belief!

I totally agree, and even you and Bren will have to agree on this one

[wannadivenotwork]

I think a big problem is that diving is getting a lot of publicity recently - in the press and in films, magazines etc. Many holiday divers, or even novices will see programmes on tv where they dive to 60M+ and think, looks easy, whats the problem?

Then they are unfortunate enough to try it somewhere that is lax or doesn't know their intentions.

A new diver bussy of mind is obsessed with diving deep even though he has only done 14 dives. I keep reminding him of the risks and necessary training, experience and equipment, and I pray that he listens.

[hawkeye]

Crazy what must go through some ones mind to think this is acceptable.

[hawkeye]

A new diver bussy of mind is obsessed with diving deep even though he has only done 14 dives. I keep reminding him of the risks and necessary training, experience and equipment, and I pray that he listens.

Totally agree with you there. being newbie myself I can see how easy it is to get carried away, Thats why I love this place it keeps your head screwed on.

[Andy Phillips]

What you lot don't know is the ramifications for the whole diving community in Dahab, the Blue Hole will now be shut - totally for at least the next two weeks whilst the decision is made whether or not to recover the body, this will only be done if someone i.e. the family are willing to pay for it. If they are not then the diver will just be left there.


I have a couple of questions, the last four people to die there have all been russians, why?

The dive through the arch can be done comfortably between 60 and 70M, once you are through the bottom slopes away sharply to the left on a sandy base from 110 to somewhere very deep indeed, to get out you need to swim about 60M to the right, not a big issue but with your consumption at 100M on a single 12 you have about 5 mins to do it (allowing for getting to 100M in the first place) this is NOT enough time. Then you have to deco on the way back up, even if you bounce it you are not going to make it without triming off your deco. Even the most rudimentary grasp of math will allow you to work this out, why on earth would you try to do something that you simply can't acheive?

The dive is suicide, as demonstrated almost every single time someone attempts to do it this way.

What is ridiculous though, it is really not a hard dive to do, if you do it properly. The arch itself is only 10M from start to finish, the bottom of the arch is about 80M. Why on earth did someone try and do this on a single 12 - again. It is stupidity beyond belief. I have no sympathy for the person that dived, plenty for there family and a lot for the dive community in Dahab and the other holiday makers out there who will now not be able to experience a very beautiful dive site. And indeed sympathy for myself as Mark and I are due out there in January and it means we might not be able to do the dive ourselves without an immense amount of effort, and we will be there with our twin 12's with mix plus three 10L stages for deco.

Andrew

[Jen S]

Agree with the comments above. Why anyone should attempt such a dive on this setup is beyond belief. I do think the dive center running should share some of the blame too though, for actually allowing someone to attempt this dive in the first place.
Jen

[Mark Chase]

The Russians are the new Italians. There is a Neanderthal like deep air macho thing. Unfortunately they also have a free way with cash so they can get the guides to let them do it.

The dive centre Andrew and I were at were very strict and the full gambit of available safety precautions were insisted upon before the dive.

It doesn’t say he was doing the arch but if he was it was particularly crazy. The arch is a killer because it is deep but surprisingly dark. At the half way point if you look back towards the blue hole it is pretty scary. It’s a dead inky black/blue with little or no fish life, it really looked intimidating. The obvious option to go up ASAP will put you in a bowl in the ceiling from which you can become disorientated. You will have to drop back down to 60 to get out from under the bowl and back into the hole or drop down to 80 to get out on the open sea side. From the mid point it is obvious you have to go down (to 80) and right to get through the dog leg arch but narked at 80m that’s a big call.

I like Andy have no sympathy for the diver and I hope they sling the guide in prison as a lesson to others out there.

ATB

Mark Chase