British cave-diver found dead in southern Thailand

[webfact]

British cave-diver dies in Thailand

 

Picture: Google Maps.

 

A British scuba diver living in Thailand is reported to have died on an inland cave-dive in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

 

The 60-year-old man, named by the Chiang Rai Times as Roger S., appeared to have been diving alone about 100m from the rest of his group, who had been preparing to explore the Song Hong underwater caves on the afternoon of 21 December.

 

He was found dead at the surface by other members of the group, but it was unclear from reports how long he had been submerged or to what depth he had been.

 

Song Hong is a limestone sinkhole that descends to a depth of around 140m at nearly 1km from the entrance.

 

Full story: https://divernet.com/2019/12/22/british-cave-diver-dies-in-thailand/

 

-- DIVER NET 2019-12-23

[Blackheart1916]

Plan your dive, dive your plan. RIP.

[tifino]

  dive alone die alone???? 

 

[steven100]

diving alone anywhere is irresponsible and especially in a underground cave situation, we were always taught never go alone always have a buddy.

[Sanook997]

Second hand information but I believe it to be accurate given the source.

 

Deceased dive computer:  

 

Max depth 117 meters

Began assent after 47 min bottom time (condition unknown)

O2 Zero

Diluent 20 bar

 

Why would a PADI instructor and tech diver dive alone to that depth, I can't imagine this in any scenario. 

[mickey rat]

So they are doing diving tours there now? ???? Was Padi open water tech diver dude who got separated from buddy and group a certified cave diver? What's the name of the operation that organized this tour? 

[Sanook997]

9 minutes ago, mickey rat said:

So they are doing diving tours there now? ???? Was Padi open water tech diver dude who got separated from buddy and group a certified cave diver? What's the name of the operation that organized this tour? 

Here again, to my knowledge this was not a tour of any kind.  He lived here in Thailand and was diving with friends as usual, this is a very popular spot for locals.  He was diving on his own away from his buddies but not in the cave system.  No one will never know at what depth things went wrong, his computer profile may give some clues, but it doesn't matter anymore. RIP

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, tifino said:

  dive alone die alone???? 

 

He broke the golden rule... never dive alone.

[Sheryl]

Actually as I read it did not dive alone, dove with a group but did not stay as close together as should,  somehow ended up about 100 m away.

[SiSePuede419]

Any scuba diving is dangerous.  Alone or with a buddy.

 

My advice: DON'T SCUBA DIVE

 

"Snorkel" *

 

* Of course you can still die in Thailand snorkeling because careless Thai boat drivers.  Better yet, only snorkel in places WITH NO BOATS

 

 

[Momofarang]

7 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Any scuba diving is dangerous.  Alone or with a buddy.

 

My advice: DON'T SCUBA DIVE

 

"Snorkel" *

 

* Of course you can still die in Thailand snorkeling because careless Thai boat drivers.  Better yet, only snorkel in places WITH NO BOATS

 

 

What a boring life you must have...

[Sanook997]

43 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Any scuba diving is dangerous.  Alone or with a buddy.

 

My advice: DON'T SCUBA DIVE

 

"Snorkel" *

 

* Of course you can still die in Thailand snorkeling because careless Thai boat drivers.  Better yet, only snorkel in places WITH NO BOATS

 

 

Statistically it would be more dangerous to cross a street in Thailand than to Scuba dive, My advice....Don't leave the house.

[KKr]

2 hours ago, Sanook997 said:

Max depth 117 meters

Began assent after 47 min bottom time (condition unknown)

looks like a recipe for disaster,
If on air, 47 minutes bottom time looks like a lot of bottom time at 117 meters (was he maybe diving technical? ) unless he had a few tanks with him, and several decompression stops planned and prepared.

[KKr]

5 minutes ago, Sanook997 said:

Statistically it would be more dangerous to cross a street in Thailand than to Scuba dive, My advice....Don't leave the house.

However, kindly note that most people die in the bed, at home.

[Sanook997]

55 minutes ago, KKr said:

looks like a recipe for disaster,
If on air, 47 minutes bottom time looks like a lot of bottom time at 117 meters (was he maybe diving technical? ) unless he had a few tanks with him, and several decompression stops planned and prepared.

Theres so much we don't know and only his buddies will be able to shed some light on what happened.  He has two tanks on a manifold with fully redundant stages in front of him and what looks like a closed circuit rebreather of some sort on his back, his horseshoe BCD is fully inflated which could have been done by his rescuers.  Regardless of his gas mix this would be a decompression dive and he was fully equipped for the dive.  Since this was a highly technical rig, anything could have gone wrong at any time during the dive.  I just can't in any way imagine planning a dive like this solo, this had to be some sort of checkout dive....so I'm totally guessing here, maybe he just wanted to go down 10-15 meters and do some gear checks and something went wrong, became incapacitated and he simply descended to the 117M then later surfaced as his tanks were exhausted and he became more buoyant.  It would not at all be unusual for an experienced tech diving instructor to make a solo gear check before a big dive.  All speculative, no way of really knowing.

[phantomfiddler]

B.S.A.C. Rule No. 1.....NEVER dive alone !

[30la]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The 60-year-old man, named by the Chiang Rai Times as Roger S., appeared to have been diving alone about 100m from the rest of his group, who had been preparing to explore the Song Hong underwater caves on the afternoon of 21 December.

Probably even if the elderly did not have enough experience, it is absolutely forbidden to dive alone!
In any case, R.I.P.

[Sanook997]

Contrary to what's being posted here....It is not forbidden to dive alone.  There is actually a solo diver certification course for very experienced divers and its a very good idea to go through the course if you are a frequent diver and photographer etc.  No matter what you read, its a fact that many recreational divers find themselves too far from their buddies for a whole variety of reasons,  sometimes their buddy isn't even looking and by the time they do look it would be too late.  I have always assumed I am diving alone,  I have taken the solo courses, have a redundant air source and have logged thousands of dives, I don't ever deliberately dive alone but if and when I do find myself alone I feel very well prepared to handle any situation.  

 

If this guy did a checkout dive to shallow depths without his buddies that would not be unusual given his experience.  

[Scot123]

6 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Any scuba diving is dangerous.  Alone or with a buddy.

 

My advice: DON'T SCUBA DIVE

 

"Snorkel" *

 

* Of course you can still die in Thailand snorkeling because careless Thai boat drivers.  Better yet, only snorkel in places WITH NO BOATS

 

 

My advice to you is don't give advice about subjects you know nothing about. Scuba diving is one of the safest adventure however snorkeling is very dangerous the moment you hold your breath and dive under the water. It is called shallow water drowning "look it up", it is when co2 levels in your blood  increase as you approach the surface and you pass out = drowning. I had over 300 dives around Kow Tow back in 2002 ~5 and the number 1 killer was scooter number 2 falling coconuts. 

[atyclb]

when i snorkel always strap a dive knife to my leg. stuck in a net or fishing line is a terrible way to die

[Dap]

7 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Any scuba diving is dangerous.  Alone or with a buddy.

 

My advice: DON'T SCUBA DIVE

 

"Snorkel" *

 

* Of course you can still die in Thailand snorkeling because careless Thai boat drivers.  Better yet, only snorkel in places WITH NO BOATS

 

 

And to be absolutely certain of your safety, only snorkel in your tub 

[Tomahawk21]

20 hours ago, Momofarang said:

What a boring life you must have...

but still alive 

[MRToMRT]

A lot of people here are jumping to conclusions and also applying recreational diving basics to a non-recreational diver. Wait for the facts.