Woman dies while scuba diving in Puget Sound
DES MOINES, Wash. - Fire officials say a woman died Saturday evening while scuba diving in Puget Sound.
South King Fire and Rescue says a crew responded to a report of a diver down shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday at the Redondo Pier in Des Moines.
A news release says a dive partner first tried to help the stricken female diver while both were under water, but failed.
Working with the partner, the rescue crew was able to locate the diver and bring her to shore.
Fire officials say resuscitation began right away, but the diver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fire officials say initial reports were that the diver had run out of air, but rescuers have not confirmed that or determined the cause of the accident.
No other details were released.
South King Fire and Rescue says a crew responded to a report of a diver down shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday at the Redondo Pier in Des Moines.
A news release says a dive partner first tried to help the stricken female diver while both were under water, but failed.
Working with the partner, the rescue crew was able to locate the diver and bring her to shore.
Fire officials say resuscitation began right away, but the diver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fire officials say initial reports were that the diver had run out of air, but rescuers have not confirmed that or determined the cause of the accident.
No other details were released.
I knew her - this is such a tragedy - she was a VERY experienced diver who had been diving in places all over the world... accidents are always possible and we wont really know what happened. God Rest her soul and may He bring peace to her family - her loss is very tragic and she will be dearly missed
@CanuckDiving "Diver ran out of air." Hmm. Trapped by weeds? Caught in a wreck? ... didn't look at indicator? Very sad.
@ShawnPudsey Unsure as well but it is tragic. We do not like reporting on these incidents.
@CanuckDiving understandably.
As a very experienced puget sound diver there are a few things I feel I should comment. i dove that site on Friday and have done so many times. It is one of the safest sites in the sound. It is used by many instructors for diver certification. As for how this happened? You can second guess forever but you will never know what happened. If she was an experienced diver the odds are it was something medical in nature or some sort of catastrophic equipment failure. but guessing is futile. There are thousands of things that could have gone wrong and if this story follows normal flow you will never know any more than you do now. Diving is a safe sport if you are well trained and careful and keep your wits about you. however all divers know it can kill the careless in a heartbeat.Redondo, the site where this happened, bottoms out at about 90 feet but as mentioned that means if your that deep you are using 3 times as much air as you do on the surface so an out of air situation can come very quickly if you don't realize that you are that deep. Her partner could also have been low on air and didn't have enough to share.
My heart felt condolences to the family AND to her dive buddy who is going thru hell right now. It is very hard to be the one that survived.Â
@RichZ The article states that her dive partner was unsuccessful when he/she tried
to aid the dive partner (generally by buddy breathing) but failed. To me, that would
indicate some other medical issue, because if she only was out of air in her tanks, anÂ
experienced diver would have used the buddy breathing system to safely return toÂ
the surface.
What ever the cause, may she RIP.
Years ago, I snorkled in a wet suit close to Edmonds. The massive beds of kelp scared the heck out of me. I've never attempted again. My condolences to the young girl's family...so sad.
I ran out of air diving on a wreck (RMS Rhone, the wreck used in the movie The Deep) in the Caribbean. I had a dive partner, as ever diver should, I gave the out of air hand signal and we buddy breathed to the surface with no problem. Having been trained to do this it was a no brainier. It turns out I had a bad O-ring where my regulator attached to the tank and it bled oxygen out of the tank cutting my oxygen supply considerably. Now days most divers use an octopus setup with two regulators so buddy breathing with one regulator is a thing of the past.
My condolences to the diver's family. Hell of a way to go.
Divers do it deeper, we were fond of saying in the old days.
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I had a regulator malfunction at about 100 feet.I had gone over safety procedures and sign language with my partner, an inexperienced diver, before we went into the water.I signaled âair cut offâ, and âgive me airâ.He just sort of waved and swam on.I managed to make it to the surface, and never dove with him again. You do not need an octopus regulator.Two, or even more, divers can share a single regulator.The thing you need to look for is absolute panic.An out of control diver in trouble can kill you both.This is why it is important to stay in contact, and to periodically review safety procedures.It is important to signal, calmly, that you would like to share air.Frantic signaling is fine, just donât try to claw the mouthpiece out of someoneâs mouth. There must be more to this story.She must have refused his air for some reason.How deep were they?I used to start getting narcoses symptoms not much over 100 feet.
ÂIt would seem to me having as many safety devices when one dives would be a no brainer for any diver..
Jeez how many Diver lose their lives in the same Fn spot?
Drowning, burning and being eaten by a Grizzly are some of my biggest fears. Â I think it would be an amazing experience to view the ocean by diving, but I will stick with snorkeling. Â That is adventure enough for me in the water.Â
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@komonews SPAM ALERT! SPAM ALERT! SPAM ALERT! SPAM ALERT! SPAM ALERT!Â
Will be calling KOMO Monday on him.
@DANIELP67365960Â Go away spammer.
Huh???????
I have over 70 logged dives, many without a dive master and I've never done a night dive. So many things can go wrong.Â
@lakeview You should consider doing one sometime. Certainly with a good dive master and experienced group. An entirely different set of species comes out at night that is really worth seeing. It really isn't that much more risky than any other type of dive. Give it a try!Â
All divers carry an alternate second stage to help out buddies who have run out of air. So the information that the diver ran out of air with the statement that the buddy tried to help seems contradictory.
RIPÂ
Iconclast, your statement is not necessarily true. Not all divers carry what is called an octopus regulator. It is a personal choice. I always did, and used it twice. When your dive partner swims up to you because something is wrong, they need air FAST! If he/she is also panicking, then passing a regulator back and forth is very difficult, because the panicking person tends to keep it, suddenly making it your emergency instead of theirs. Diving is a fun sport, but it also has dangers, and one must keep his wits about him (or her) at all times.
@factchekr And, to make your situation a little hairier, they often snatch your reg right out of your mouth and you get to be the one using the octopus! Â
@factchekr Wow, in nearly 20 years of diving I have never dove with anyone not having an alternate second stage. I certainly wouldn't dive with anyone so unequipped.
lakeview makes an excellent point that the woman might have been panicking and prevented any sort of sharing of air even if there was an alternate. It is difficult to comprehend just how irrational people can be during a panic. I didn't think about this.
As typical, this is just an early report.Â
My brother and I dove together most of our adult lives, and we were always safety nuts. But, I'm amazed how cavalier some people are with their lives. There was one guy who wanted to go on a dive with me, but he usually dove alone. Anyone who does that is risking his own life and whoever is foolish enough to dive with him when he does dive with a partner.
@Iconoclast If someone runs out of air, they typically panic and try to surface. A dive buddy even 10 feet away sometimes cannot help.Â
I am going to church in a few minutes and praying for Jesus to unshackle this poor woman's soul. Our prayers go out to her family for such a tragic loss.
@BuddyHollyunshackle this poor woman's soul
 what the heck is that supposed to mean ?
@DoctorPCÂ
Just guessing here, but I think it is a reference to the some Christians (including Catholic) teaching of Purgatory. Â It's a temporary purification and holding place before one goes on to Heaven. Â Not the same as Hell.
@Doxie @DaleInTacoma @DoctorPCÂ
If you read  some other stories on here today (like the 14 year old boy who shot his parents) BuddyHolly also prayed for the unshackling of his soul, I think he/she is on a Sunday go to church kick
@DaleInTacoma @DoctorPC Not biblical either - no such thing in the Bible at all.
I'm waiting for socialjusticeforall to come in here claiming that someone shot her underwater with a gun. R.I.P. diver. Though I don't dive myself, I have a few friends that do. Some of the best diving areas around here can be a bit tricky from what I hear, but if you're careful, and pay attention, most of the time you'll make it out of the water alive, and I hear that our area is prime for checking out underwater habitat. Starting lessons this summer. Learned one this morning about watching pressure gauges.
Ran out of air? back when I dived I started making my way back toward the surface when the gauge hit 500 Lbs. All divers are trained to do that. Must have been some other factors.
When I first started diving, the tanks were steel, so the pressure was only 2250 psi. Plus they were smaller than today's aluminum and high pressure steel tanks. So, we used to really push the limits on when we headed back to the surface. 500 is good if you're sixty feet or less. Any deeper and the margin should be bigger.
@factchekr I remember those. I learned on a steel tank actually and then bought a aluminum one later. The gal I mentioned above often used a steel tank and her husband the dive instructor used a 3000 psi aluminum tank and she would still outlast him sometimes.
@Ankle Biter so is 500 pounds a good thing or a bad thing?
I don't and don't ever plan to (dive) so please elaborate on this. Â just curious
@DoctorPCÂ @Ankle Biter Like Remle says it really depends on the depth and the diver. I did a lot of shallow dives in the Mediterranean where we only around 25 feet deep and had good visibility of the the surface above so we would run our tanks nearly dry. But if your down at 80 feet and can't see the surface well then it's time to head back up at 500 for sure. Keep in mind that the deeper you are the faster your air consumption rate. Every 33 feet is one atmosphere so at 66 feet you are using twice the amount of air per breath than you would at 33 feet. At 99 feet three times. 500 Lbs doesn't last long at 99 feet.Â
Also, some divers use air faster than other too. We had a female diver in our club that could stay down a amazingly long time. Experienced divers usually get a "feel" for how fast they use their air up and know when to start watching the gauge.Â
@Ankle Biter@DoctorPC
 I've breathed tanks nearly dry myself on occasion.   I think the big difference between then and now though is many divers now feel that the remaining air in your tank should be enough to get both you and your buddy safely to the surface if there is a problem.
In the past I think the 500 psi thing was based on the reserve in your tank before you activated your J-valve.   The valves generally came preset with 500 psi reserves and you had no pressure gauge to tell you your pressure.   You simply breathed your tank dry and when you could no longer breathe you pulled the reserve and started your ascent.@DoctorPC @Ankle Biter Â
500 psi is generally considered a minimum amount of air necessary to return you to the surface from recreational depths.   It's a bare minimum.   Most scuba instructors and boat operators want to see divers return to the surface with 500 psi still in their tanks.   Because of this divers will typically start to make their ascent at around 1000 psi.
These are just rules of thumb though.   From 30' I probably wouldn't bother ascending until I hit 700 psi and at 130' I would start my ascent closer to 1500 psi.   It also depends on the size and type of tanks you are using.
RIP diver.
@Datsuyama You be extra careful too!
@Doxie @Datsuyama Thanks Doxie! Â