Sad..

[sshindell]

3 dead in Key Largo reef dive
BY CAMMY CLARK
mailto:cclark@MiamiHerald.com">cclark@MiamiHerald.com</a>

KEY WEST --Three men died today during a diving accident at the Spiegel Grove, a former Navy ship sunk in 2002 to make an artificial reef five miles off Key Largo.

Four men, friends from New Jersey who were reportedly advanced certified divers, hired a boat captained by Mark Cianciu of Scuba-Do Charters to take them to the wreck. During the fatal dive, one man was stationed at the entrance to the ship while the other three went inside, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The man outside the wreck began to run out of air and surfaced safely. Two divers from another boat went down to search for the other men. They found one man in distress and brought him to the surface.

The Coast Guard took that victim to shore, performing CPR the entire way. Paramedics met the boat but the man was pronounced dead at Mariner's Hospital, the Coast Guard said.

The other two men were not immediately found. The Key Largo Fire Rescue's Water Emergency Team, which has experienced divers, searched for the missing men and found them just after 2 p.m. Both were dead.

But the bodies are so deep it will be extremely risky to recover them, said Capt. Sergio Garcia of the Key Largo Fire Department.

Garcia said the bodies may not be recovered until Saturday.

None of the victims were identified pending notification of family. All had dived the Spiegel Grove the day before.

It was the sixth death at the Spiegel Grove. Three others have died in separate accidents. In 2003, Eunice Lasala, of Fredericksburg, Va., died while also on the commercial dive vessel Scuba-Do.

 

[tsciarini]

Poorly written article <u>IMO</u>... I hate the way media tries to point blame on someone else (ie, the dive charter/the wreck itself). It is the responsibility of each diver to have a complete dive plan. On another note, it sucks to see a loss of live especially in a hobby that many of us are involved in...

 

[flipturn88]

That is very sad... although we can't know the full story, it does seem like more responsibility should be taken into account regarding the divers as well.

 

[washowi]

Most likely not trained to do penetration dives I would bet. And thats a deep dive as well. Wonder what they dove on? Trimix or air...

 

[sshindell]

According to Detective Coleman:

The men, all experienced divers, did not have a dive plan. A dive plan, he says, is crucial in order to make sure all participants in the dive know what to expect, and to make sure the divers are properly prepared for the coming dive./


The men had no dive reels with them to show them the way out of the wreck. Dive reels are spools of line which are attached at the entrance to the dive. The divers let out line as they progress and, thus, are able to find their way out again.


The men did not take enough dive tanks with them to complete the dive. Normally, according to Detective Coleman, divers planning an extensive penetration dive such as this one take down "stage tanks" which are staged all along the dive route so they have new tanks when they run low on air. These divers had several stage tanks with them, but they were staged much higher in the vessel, and closer to the entrance, than their bodies were found. They only carried single tanks with them. Had they had a safety line, they may have been able to find their way back to the tanks.

Detective Coleman said when he interviewed Howard Spralter, the lone survivor of the group, he admitted they did not take all the safety precautions they should have to complete the dive.

"The divers who went in to recover the bodies said this portion of the ship has large amounts of silt built up inside," said Detective Coleman. "It doesn't take very much movement to kick that silt up and cause problems with your ability to see. Without a line to follow out, and with lots of silt in the water, it would have been virtually impossible for them to find their way out of the wreck," he said.

The Spiegel Grove is a popular dive spot off of Key Largo. The upper portions of the ship have many areas that have been prepared specifically for penetration dives with holes cut for ingress and egress, and markings on the walls showing clearly which ways to go. The portion of the ship these divers were in were lower down, where all the entrances were sealed to prevent entrance. It is unknown how the entrance they used was opened, but it was not intended for use as an entrance to the wreck.

The men's bodies have been transported to Key West and autopsies will be performed to determine the cause of their deaths. Assisting in the body recovery today was Key Largo Fire/Rescue, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the United States Coast Guard.

 

[mafiaman]

<span style="color: red;">From an eyewitness, posted on a different board.</span>
<span style="color: #ff0000;"></span>
My 2 cents.

I was diving "The Grove" Friday morning when this incident occurred. There were 5 boats out there, about half the number that are normally present, due to 5 to 6 foot waves keeping the crowd down. I was on Quiescence II, which was moored to the starboard bow ball. Slate's boat "Starfish Enterprise" was moored next to us on port bow ball. Additionally, there was "Scuba Do", "Island Ventures" & "It's A Dive" on site at the time and tied up on port balls of the wreck.

My first comment is WHAT AN INCREDIBLE JOB ALL THE CAPTAINS PRESENT DID DURING THIS INCIDENT.

Scuba Do captain did a great job in managing all the radio traffic and inquiries made by the Coast Guard & other agencies that showed up. It was a VERY CONFUSING and FLUID situation & he calmly worked the problem.

The first diver came up (low on air) and blew a whistle to alert of a problem. Coast Guard was called and they were actually ON SCENE by the time the divers that were from Slate's boat (and just happened upon the diver in the wreck) came up with the first victim. A Coast Guard RIB-like vessel pulled along side of them and 4 CG crew men pulled the diver on board. I'm guessing not more than a minute from the time that divers surfaced with him.

NOW, I don't know what the news articles mean that say he was in "distress". Because the CG started giving the diver CPR right away! So if "distress" means in respitory and/or cardiac arrest, then OK, I'll agree with that statement. Normally, we use "distress" for a diver that is having problems getting down, or is stressed due to be low on air. Anyway, CG gave compressions and floated on the scene for maybe 5 minutes, as there was some possibility that 2 divers coming up that same line were the "lost" divers. A diver from Island Ventures entered the water and went down that line to deliver a fresh bottle, as it was assumed that if it were the 2 missing divers, they would be in DEEP DECO and need more gas. However, after more minutes passing, and numerous radio inquiries, it was determined that the divers on the line WERE NOT the missing ones, just 2 divers coming up the wrong line. (Divers coming up wrong line on SG is not uncommon. We had 2 of Slate's divers
come up our line in the middle of our group. In a pinch, any line will do is often the thought...usually by those who didn't plan or pay attention on their dive!) Once it was determined not to be the divers, the CG RIB took off to shore with the unresponsive diver.

We (and the other boats present) stayed on scene for an hour. We had lookouts posted, in case the divers surfaced away from the wreck. But the current WAS LOW that day, and the probability of that was low too. Some highly qualified divers on our boat, prepared to go back down, but with a short surface interval, bottom time was insufficient to be effective. ( I can only assume the same situation was occurring on the other boats present.) At some point the reality of it being a RECOVERY instead of RESCUE was reached. Scuba Do captain radioed CG to close the wreck for diving. CG helicopter showed up later and hovered the area for probably an hour.

The dive shop the group I was diving with was staying at, was used as headquarters for the recovery effort. A recovery group went out FRI afternoon and returned after dark without being able to remove the trapped divers. They went out again on SAT morning and finally returned LATE Saturday afternoon with the recovery completed.

IT IS PHENOMENAL the amount of MAN POWER and EQUIPMENT that went into this effort, due to the depth involved. A big tip of the hat to Key Largo Fire Rescue and all the other parties/agencies/ diveshops involved in the recovery.

Again it was impressive the level of professionalism and responsiveness that was shown that day. It is unfortunate that all this effort couldn't have brought forth a better outcome.


Sincerely,

**Name removed**</em>

 

[washowi]

Based on what I have read.....they were not TRAINED to do penetrations or they would not have so "unprepared" equipment-wise and methods of doing this type of dive....too bad.

You have to be smart when diving.. 3 divers agree to do that penetration ....makes ya wonder what they were thinking...

 

[kevin]

"Plan your dive & Dive your plan!"

Make sure you have the proper equipment and training to do what you plan to do. I agree, these guys weren't all that SMART while diving and shows that one bad decision could be your last when you are ~ 100+ feet down.

I am glad to hear that all of the boats coordinated and that the situation was handled correctly. I was pretty amazed reading the first post when the reporter was pointing their finger at the dive shop immediately without a full investigation.

 

[mafiaman]

Two of the four were MSDT, and had done a lot of wreck penetration dives.
In N.J. there is a training trend there where you do "familiarization penetrations" where you memorize the wreck by going in a little further with each additional dive not using line because they claim the lines get cut.
This dive was the second in two days using this method and they pushed it to far.

 

[washowi]

Yeah I have read all of the books about NJ diving....the search for the U-who?

all the Andrea Doria diving,etc...Richie Kohler and John Chatterton books...

Got a feeling these guys were not that caliber...

Hell one of my goals is to dive the Doria...

 

[mafiaman]

<span style="color: red;">The rest of the story from the miami herald</span>
<span style="color: #ff0000;"></span>
THE MIAMI HERALD
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KEY LARGO -- The lone survivor of a deadly diving accident in the Florida Keys has given investigators details of how the tragedy unfolded, clues that may help unravel the mystery of how three of his experienced diving buddies died.

Contrary to previous reports, authorities said Sunday that Howard Spialter told them he did not remain outside the sunken Navy ship. Instead, he said he also ventured into the bowels 135-feet deep -- and even tried to save his best friend, but failed because he wouldn't follow him.

Spialter's story may help investigators piece together details of how three divers with decades of experience died during Friday's fateful exploration into a pitch-black pump room of a massive Navy ship sunk six miles off the shore of Key Largo. The dead are Kevin Coughlin, 51, from Chatham Borough, N.J., and Scott Stanley, 55, and Jonathan Walsweer, 38, both of Westfield, N.J.

Spialter, 52, also from Westfield, surfaced safely when his air supply ran low.

Investigators and a diving friend provided this account, based on what Spialter told them:

In the bowels of the ship, all four divers became lost.

Their air supply was running out. Visibility was nil after silt obscured their two strobe lights.

They were forced into a race against time: find their way out of the murky maze or die.

Spialter told Detective Mark Coleman of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office that he thought he knew the right way to safety.

But when Spialter tried to get Coughlin, Stanley and Walsweer to follow, they didn't.

''He went one way and they went the other,'' Coleman said in his report. ``He lived because he went the right way and got out.''

Tom Doherty, former owner of Treasure Cove Dive Shop in Westfield, N.J., where the four friends met, said he talked with a very shaken Spialter on Sunday. Spialter told him he had tried to grab the hand of Stanley, his best friend, to lead him out.

''But Howard told me Scott wouldn't hang on,'' Doherty said. ``Scott was probably the strongest diver -- most experienced. He left to try to help the divers downstream from him. That was the last Howard saw of Scott.''

Coleman's investigation concluded that at some point Coughlin also started in the right direction. The maze to safety required navigating 75 feet through a tight alleyway, and then up a 45-foot narrow shaft to a ship's opening 90 feet below the surface.

Coughlin had made it out of the pump room in the lowest level, where the bodies of Stanley and Walsweer were retrieved during a risky recovery effort Saturday.

Two dive instructors found Coughlin in distress and helped him to the surface. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

''Either he ran out of air before he got out, or he may have [suffered an embolism] in a section of the wreck where this is a long, steep ascent on the way out,'' Coleman said. ``We just don't know. Maybe the autopsy will be able to answer some of the questions. But we may never know the whole story.''

The Monroe County Medical Examiner began autopsies of the three victims Sunday and is expected to finish them today. Coleman also is investigating if any of the divers' equipment malfunctioned.

Doherty said that with one air tank each the divers could only be at 135 feet for about 20 minutes.

Spialter told investigators that the group didn't use lines to guide the way out in poor visibility.

Capt. Rob Bleser of the Key Largo Fire Rescue dive team said there is no marine life to see at the bottom of the Spiegel Grove.

''No fish,'' he said. ``Nothing but murky water and rusted ship.''

Doherty said the four also had to contend with the bubbles of their regulators causing a ''rust rain'' with the ceilings only a couple feet above their heads.

All four men had dived wrecks that were 100 feet deeper and more difficult. They also had been in the Spiegel Grove's pump room the previous day, Spialter said.

''They didn't feel threatened by the Spiegel Grove,'' Doherty said of the ship that was sunk in 2002.

``That's the downside of having a lot of experience.''

Weather

 

[mafiaman]

washowi;29348 wrote: ...

Hell one of my goals is to dive the Doria...

Leave me your golf clubs. I'll meet you in the next world with'm

 

[washowi]

Good somebody better bring them, because I hear God is a scratch golfer

 

[mafiaman]

washowi;29378 wrote: Good somebody better bring them, because I hear God is a scratch golfer

Well, I think I have his 2 iron in my bag. None of us mortals could make a shot with it!

 

[justonemoretank]

Wow! What a sad story of divers in S. FL. That is really terrible and I cannot imagine what one must be thinking as you are running out of air, can't see thru the murky/silt and realize you can't find your way out of the ship! Yikes! :sad:

 

[cameron]

I don't want to be cruel so I will leave the Darwin comments in my noggin, but it seems like some sense was left on the boat that day. Diving, backpacking, climbing etc should always involve some basic preperation on safety. I know this is news of some sort, but hopefully people take it as a cautionary story rather than a tragic accident.

 

[mr_lloyd]

I spent the first half of 1979 on that ship with my tank platoon.It has a very large well deck that held 2 200 ton landing craft, LCU's plus 2 smaller boats that carried one M-60 tank each.The ship was being towed to where is was supposed to be sunk but sank prior to being in the desired location.Our battalion lost 2 marines and a navy corpsman on that deployment.The keel of that ship was laid in 1954.I know this has nothing to do with the divers' deaths but being a troop carrying ship with a well deck,berthing compartments were along each side of the ship and quite narrow.