Another Death At Stoney Cove
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Scuba Diving News
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 01:15

Popular UK dive site, Stoney Cove claimed another life on January 27th this year, when a man in his 30s failed to resurface.
Authorities have not yet identified the victim who was diving under the supervision of Olympic Scuba, a PADI 5-Star dive shop in Seaham, County Durham.

Witnesses at Stoney Cove report that staff divers retreived the victim from depth and began CPR, shortly after he was reported missing at approximately 13:00.

“First aid was administered by the Stoney Cove team and was continued by the emergency services, the casualty was then taken to hospital.” a Stoney Cove spokesman said.

Currently, a Health and Safety Officials are helping Leicestershire police with their investigation, after the victim was taken to hospital and pronouced dead on arrival.

This accident follows another recent fatally at Stoney Cove on 12th September 2008, when popular Scuba Trust member, Lew Cullwick died.

There have been 24 recorded scuba diving fatalities at Stoney Cove, which opened for business in 1978.

A sad day for diving. 

I guess we all need to be reminded that diving can be dangerous at times. But as long as we all follow what we are taught in training and carry out all the necessary safety checks on ourselves and our buddies we can reduce the risk and all remain safe.

Never dive beyond your level of training or experience. 

Shaun

There is always the confidence factor, I know myself as a PADI master scuba diver that it is my limit as I do not want the responsibility of others, it is bad enough being responsible for your buddy at time’s when taking the lead if they are of a lower qualification or never dived with them before..

I took my 15 year old daughter out last year and it scared the crap out of me, never take anything for granted when scuba diving..

Keith

It is far too easy to forget to keep an eye on other members of diving party! We should always be aware of where not only are Buddy is but also ware the rest of the group is! Maybe its because I’ve only logged 16 dives but I am always checking the position of my buddy and other dive members! I have notice that some of the more experienced divers that I have dived with just bimble off at there own pace and seldom check where other members of the party are! I’m not saying that all more experienced divers do this but on I have had it happen on 2 occasions!

Any one leading a dive should move at the slowest member of the groups speed its too late when your out of viz if there a problem! Buddies should always check the position of there buddy! Its not the buddy who’s followings the lead of another’s job to keep up and keep viz contact! The lead buddy should make sure that they know the position of there Buddy at all times! If your not paying attention and they get into difficulty then you could be out of viz and unable to find them!

Fortunately on both occasions no one was injured!

I always keep tabs on my buddy and the rest of the group but yes I agree I have noticed that some buddies tend to wander away from each other with no idea where each other is. I have often ended up with an additional buddy for large parts of a dive. Although this has never been a problem to date it is always at the back of my mind that if they both got into some trouble then I could struggle to cope with two divers needing help at the same time. It is not confined to newly buddied divers thrown together on holiday as I have found that regular dive buddies can be just as bad. Divers can for various reasons wander away from each other to look at something etc etc but must make the other aware of what they are doing or going and ensure that they rejoin their buddy as soon as possible and not just go of on their own.

I think you are totally right the dive leader should move a pace that suits the slowest diver even though this might not be to every-ones satisfaction. However at the end of the day once underwater the buddy pairs must not only be responsible for the other but be ready to assist any member of the group if necessary.

Shaun

I went out on a dive in Ibiza a few years back and was paired up with a 3 dive PADI open water diver and there was another 6/10 dive couple on the same dive.. Well what happen next, Spanish dive guide/leader swanned off at his pace, me with my camera who had told my buddy that I had it and would be stopping to take photo’s looked round to make eye contact with her to find her ascending to the surface after being at about 18/20 meters for 15/18 minutes. Up I went to bring her back down only to find one of the other guys descending at a rate…

Oh my GOD.. dive lead in the distance, me holding one and trying to get her buoyancy right and one descending. Got her neutral and went for the other. brought them both to about 15/16 meters and managed to attract the guides attention. Both divers had dive shop kit on and both BCD’s failed or were not used correctly by the divers..

He eventually came back and took my buddy to the surface and I carried on the dive for about another 10/15 minutes with the other couple. When back on the boat I asked about the equipment and it was faulty inflator buttons…

Lessons learned that day about being prepared for whatever....

Keith

They where bloody lucky you were there and paying attention Keith!
I did 2 adventure dives just after my open water and had a free flowing reg at 22 metres thankfully I don’t panic easily and swapped to my alternative and got it stopped! Some club gear leaves a lot to be desired! When I was diving with these guys the first BCD they gave me looked like it was going to fall apart!

What was your Spanish guide thinking! Or not as it appears!!

That’s where all the training and experience kicks in.

That’s the problem with hiring kit you never know how its been looked after or serviced. I Know its an expensive sport but its well worth investing when you can and slowly get your own gear together. Then you know how its been treated and you will look after and maintain it. Good kit lasts forever. I always use my own gear except for tanks and weights anyway, I accept that it could still go wrong but i have a lot more confidence in it.

Shaun

It is a hell of an investment but you have to think about how much your life is worth! Its took a while but I now have a complete set of kit! Well there’s always room for more lol

It is worth it very much so. I value my life very highly and I have lots I want to see and do still, so always check and look after my gear. It is very expensive to put together but over time you can get there.

Shaun

PS Wabit are we stalking each other or do we have a psychic link so we know when the other is on here

Nar I think that we just spend far to much time on-line lmao

I’ve only hired kit once. It was set up wrong for me PADI not BSAC and had seen better days so when I got home started to get my own. I now have all my own stuff. However I cannot help myself, whenever I go to Frogsborn shop I have to get something new. My middle name is Ooh! shiny.

Hi there Caroline!
I spend far to much time on ebay looking for bargains lol I’m like a kid in a sweet shop and I can’t help my self!

One of the many bits of kit I’ve bought recently is a shiny new DSMB, Real and Delayed Aid set up!!! 

Of course it was totally in the name of safety lol

Yes safety I love it. Just got a uwatec Galileo sol in the name of safety as my old computer did not have micro bubbles setting. See Ooh! shiny. I started off with a BCD which I now only use on holidays as I dive with a wing and twin 7’s in the UK.I have more dive gear than you can shake a stick at.
Carloine

We will have to organise a group trip to Wales so you can show it off lol

Talking about group trips! Are you planing to go to the Dive fest in Cornwall in May?? There’s a couple of us heading down for a few days! Dawn and Sue have a stand at the show for the site!!

Hi Caroline

Lucky you getting a Sol they really look good was tempted a couple of years ago but just could not find the cash so go my Smart Com which i love. Have you dived with it yet? Did you get th heart rate monitor as well?

I do think that the governing agencies need to carry out more checks on their dive schools etc and look at the condition of the gear they hire out. If you dive a lot and are hiring you know what to look out for but the try diver has no idea. Maybe as divers we should take more responsiblity and point out what we see to PADI, BSAC etc.

Shaun