Mystery surrounds deaths of Phuket cave divers at Khao Sok National Park

[Lite Beer]

Mystery surrounds deaths of Phuket cave divers at Khao Sok National Park
Kritsada Mueanhawong
Isaac Stone Simonelli

PHUKET: -- Two experienced Phuket cave divers died after a diving accident on technical rebreathers near the entrance of Tiger Cave in the Chio Lan Reservoir, Surat Thani, on Monday.

Dmitry Dokuchave, 46, died at the scene, while fellow Russian national Alexander Solomatin was pronounced dead at Surat Thani Hospital.

"Both bodies were transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital, with the preliminary cause of death cited as decompression sickness," said a Surat Thani Hospital staffer who declined to be named.

The Russians were with two other divers, who altogether had rented out a boat and were using their own dive equipment at the time of the accident, a technical diving school manager who knew the divers explained to the Phuket Gazette.

"They were highly certified technical, rebreather and cave divers who had done many cave dives and rebreather dives before. They knew what they were doing," said the manager, who declined to be named.

However, something went wrong. The group had split into two teams, with two divers exploring the wall to search for a second entrance to the cave, while the Russians planned to use the main entrance of the cave, which sits at about 24 meters below the surface.

"According to a dive computer used by the Russians, [it looks like] one them probably noticed that something was wrong. He most likely than told his buddy that he would have to abort the dive… and probably told the other diver to continue his dive while he sorted out the problem," the manger said.

"What the problem was, at this stage, we don't know," she added, as she has been in close contact with the two surviving divers.

"According to his [Mr Dokuchave's] dive computer, he was at about 20 meters [depth] when the problem started, so he wasn't inside the cave yet. He stayed there for about two minutes, probably trying to fix the problem. Then, according the dive computer profile, he shot up to the surface."

The two other divers found Mr Dokuchave unconscious on the surface with his rebreather mouthpiece out of his mouth. One of them began emergency rescue procedures.

"Before they found him, [Mr Solomatin] must have known something was wrong… so he would have been looking for him after he had finished his own decompression stops and went back down. This would have probably meant he suffered from decompression sickness, but that needs to be confirmed by a coroner," the manager said.

The other two divers located Mr Solomatin, and, with the help of Thais working on the lake, rushed him to Surat Thani Hospital.

"We visited [Mr Solomatin] at the hospital," said Surat Thani Vice Governor Witchawut Jinto. "Doctors did their best to save him, but they just couldn't."

"This is a sad accident. I am deeply sorry for their families."

V/Gov Witchawut said that officers would be moving to close the dive sites in the Chio Lan Reservoir to tourists, leaving it open only for scientific efforts.

"We do not want to see such accidents in the future, the reservoir is not a diving area for tourists. We will look at what measures can be taken to prevent such accidents in the future," he said.

The reservoir encompassed by Khao Sok National park is well known and well used by the Phuket dive community. It is regularly used for recreational diving, as well as for certifying cave divers, as some of the caves are relatively easy to penetrate - providing excellent opportunities for training.

"Tiger Cave is a more difficult cave. All the divers were full cave certified, so they knew what they were doing and had been there before," said the manager.

"However, it should be taken into account that the accident did not happen inside the cave, so that wasn't the problem. This might have been a problem with the rebreather, but we need to be sure about this."

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Mystery-surrounds-deaths-of-Phuket-cave-divers-at--30250628.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-25

[cornishcarlos]

Very sad.

A friend of mine died in a Cornish quarry whilst testing a new rebreather, he was also a very experienced tech diver..

So it does happen unfortunately. Not sure why they would close the dive sites because of this 1 accident, if that were a good reason then most beaches would be closed to swimmers.

RIP

[SOTIRIOS]

.......another 'mystery'.......

...nobody to take responsibility or blame......it just happened......oh, I see.......NOT.........

[heybuz]

when i was diving rebreathers were only good for 30 feet,they have come a long way

[Katoom]

I have hundreds of hours on Drager rebreathers and would never venture below 6 meters more than twice on one dive. The second time below that limit line is dive aborted immediately. Although my use was totally different to theirs but deep diving on pure oxygen, if that was indeed the case, is not something that I would recommend.

Sorry for their loss.

[Geordie59]

Cave diving is one of the most dangerous sports going.

I do not know how accurate the report is but if they were experienced divers they would have stayed together, not one continue with the dive while his biddy fixed a problem.

[Katoom]

Cave diving is one of the most dangerous sports going.

I do not know how accurate the report is but if they were experienced divers they would have stayed together, not one continue with the dive while his biddy fixed a problem.

They should, in all honesty Geordie, be buddy lined up so there are so many things wrong from the very beginning.

[stevenl]

For Tec diving solo diving is trained for and really common, quite often preferred over the buddy system.

[Katoom]

For Tec diving solo diving is trained for and really common, quite often preferred over the buddy system.

I can think of so many reasons for this preference to be so very wrong, especially in a cave environment where light may well be at a premium just as a starting point. However, I do not claim to be a tech diver, just Royal Navy BR's trained, gas and air and all of my gas diving was blacked out. People really do seem to play with their own lives just for thrills these days although there are many other things still left unknown in this case.

Again, sorry for their loss.

[stevenl]

For Tec diving solo diving is trained for and really common, quite often preferred over the buddy system.

I can think of so many reasons for this preference to be so very wrong, especially in a cave environment where light may well be at a premium just as a starting point. However, I do not claim to be a tech diver, just Royal Navy BR's trained, gas and air and all of my gas diving was blacked out. People really do seem to play with their own lives just for thrills these days although there are many other things still left unknown in this case.

Again, sorry for their loss.

And I can think of many reasons for this preference to be right.

What is your point, except boasting?

[Katoom]

For Tec diving solo diving is trained for and really common, quite often preferred over the buddy system.

I can think of so many reasons for this preference to be so very wrong, especially in a cave environment where light may well be at a premium just as a starting point. However, I do not claim to be a tech diver, just Royal Navy BR's trained, gas and air and all of my gas diving was blacked out. People really do seem to play with their own lives just for thrills these days although there are many other things still left unknown in this case.

Again, sorry for their loss.

And I can think of many reasons for this preference to be right.

What is your point, except boasting?

That. I gather a confirmation of prior knowledge and experience is anathema to you as a qualified response?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

At 20m and only starting the dive, not yet in the cave, doesn't sound like decompression sickness.

I did cave diving in the Florida freshwater springs, scary stuff in the caves.

[Blindside]

I am certified and have done a few specialty courses.

I will be the first to admit I don't have the balls to do cave diving.

Respect to those that can and do.

RIP to those two guys. It does happen unfortunately and we should avoid making conclusions about safety and competency on the part of anyone before all the facts are known, if they ever are.

[pacovl46]

That's why I don't trust rebreathers! If anything goes wrong you're screwed and there's a lot that can go wrong.

[stevenl]

For Tec diving solo diving is trained for and really common, quite often preferred over the buddy system.

I can think of so many reasons for this preference to be so very wrong, especially in a cave environment where light may well be at a premium just as a starting point. However, I do not claim to be a tech diver, just Royal Navy BR's trained, gas and air and all of my gas diving was blacked out. People really do seem to play with their own lives just for thrills these days although there are many other things still left unknown in this case.

Again, sorry for their loss.

And I can think of many reasons for this preference to be right.

What is your point, except boasting?

That. I gather a confirmation of prior knowledge and experience is anathema to you as a qualified response?

I knew of the guys and their habits. They were e.g. diving with self built rebreathers.

[Sviss Geez]

.......another 'mystery'.......

...nobody to take responsibility or blame......it just happened......oh, I see.......NOT.........

It is unexplained............. so far.............. but that......... doesn't mean it will............. be another mystery,.............. the responsibility could be taken by............. the divers.............. or their equipment............... or an unforeseen incident................... below the surface................. Why don't you wait.............. and see................ before being............ so cynical....................?

Don't you just love full stops.

[Katoom]

I can think of so many reasons for this preference to be so very wrong, especially in a cave environment where light may well be at a premium just as a starting point. However, I do not claim to be a tech diver, just Royal Navy BR's trained, gas and air and all of my gas diving was blacked out. People really do seem to play with their own lives just for thrills these days although there are many other things still left unknown in this case.

Again, sorry for their loss.

And I can think of many reasons for this preference to be right.

What is your point, except boasting?

That. I gather a confirmation of prior knowledge and experience is anathema to you as a qualified response?

I knew of the guys and their habits. They were e.g. diving with self built rebreathers.

Wow, thank you.

I hope that some things can be learnt from this.

[Gandtee]

when i was diving rebreathers were only good for 30 feet,they have come a long way

Maybe they haven't?

[hansgruber]

Extreme sports have extreme consequences if something goes wrong.

They knew the dangers. RIP.

[Jimjim]

According to some, maybe for experienced divers they think of solo diving as nothing. But for anyone else, remaining with your buddy is a must when diving. If they had held to this practice taught to all beginner divers as something you always do, perhaps at least one of them would have survived.

I think the issue is, many divers, even experienced, would point to cases like this as a reason to stay with your buddy and abort a dive if needed.

Quite sad. They knew the risks but surely something catastrophic happened.

[matman]

I remember diving in 2000 on the German Fleet in Scapa Flow, The boat Captain was the person that charted and mapped most of the dive sites and was a very experienced diver. Two of the divers in our party were using rebreathers. His comment concerning these was "All rebreathers do is kill divers" maybe technology has moved on since then but this comment from such an experienced diver and trip operator took away any desire I might have had to try this type of equipment.

[ktm jeff]

Ive dived Scapa Flow many times with Puffin Divers. A cave and ice diver , i am sceptical about re-breathers. However , 20 Meters shuoldnt cause DS. Maybe a faulty air scrubber or charcoal hours not within limits. RIP buddies.

[Nemesis7]

RIP

[seajae]

did a lot of cave diving in south Australia in the 70's/80's at piccaninnie ponds(the cathedral), one tree, blue hole, the shaft(before it was closed down) and a few others but always on tanks, a shot line was always used and we clipped personal lines onto it before venturing away from it, we also had a buddy line on paired divers. Safety has to always come first, never used re breathers so I cant comment but from what I know I was under the impression they were for shallow water(30' - 45') only. Will watch for the results of this to see what caused it, sad, lets hope they dont go overboard and close these areas down now.

[stevenl]

did a lot of cave diving in south Australia in the 70's/80's at piccaninnie ponds(the cathedral), one tree, blue hole, the shaft(before it was closed down) and a few others but always on tanks, a shot line was always used and we clipped personal lines onto it before venturing away from it, we also had a buddy line on paired divers. Safety has to always come first, never used re breathers so I cant comment but from what I know I was under the impression they were for shallow water(30' - 45') only. Will watch for the results of this to see what caused it, sad, lets hope they dont go overboard and close these areas down now.

That used ti be, but since 20 years or so especially rebreathers are used for deeper diving. Generally accepted: air till 50-55 meters, any deeper mixed gases, and rebreathers are an excellent option for mixed gases.