DIVING

1. Dive Fatalities
The majority of fatalities in either dive parks or non-dive parks were recreational divers (77% overall), but there were
twice as many technical divers in dive parks (n=8, 17%) as there were in non-Dive Parks (n=4, 6%). Students accounted
for at least 10% of all fatalities and basic open water certification accounted for at least 12%, though it should be noted
that certification status was not positively known in 55% of fatalities. While most divers (n=62, 56%) were simply diving
for pleasure or sightseeing, 25% (n=28) were involved somehow in training.
The majority of dive sites were at sea-level (n=84, 95%) and the majority of divers (n=81, 74%) entered the water from
the beach/shore, rather than from a dock or jetty. Only a minority were thought to be solo diving, 4/48 (17%) in non-dive
parks and 4/44 (9%) in dive parks. Where each diver’s equipment was obtained was known in only 47/110 cases (43%).
Of those 47 the equipment was rented or borrowed in 36% of fatalities in dive parks, and also 36% of cases in non-dive
parks. Clearly, with such high percentages, unfamiliarity with one’s equipment must be more common among freshwater
diving fatalities than among American recreational divers in general. Drysuit use may be less common than some divers
might imagine. Among the 61 fatalities in which dive dress was known, only 21 (34%) were in drysuits whereas 37 (61%)
were in wetsuits. There was no difference in diving dress between dive parks and non-dive parks. At least 12% of the
110 divers (n=13) were known to have ran out of gas. Causes of death are listed in Table 1.9-3.
Cause of Death n (%)
Table 1.9-3 Causes of death for freshwater diving fatalities 2004-2013
Dive Parks
(n=47)
Non-Dive Parks
(n=63)
Overall
(n=110)
Air embolism 5 (11) 0 (0) 5 (5)
Asphyxia/drowning 20 (43) 19 (31) 39 (35)
Cardiac 3 (6) 9 (14) 12 (11)
Others 1 (2) 2 (3) 3 (3)
Unknown 18 (38) 33 (52) 51 (46)
Total 47 (100) 63 (100) 110 (100)
Discussion
Regardless of whether a diver dives in a dive park with buoys and training platforms, descent/ascent ropes and stairs
into and out of the water, the most common cause of death is asphyxia/drowning. The maximum depth of fatal freshwater
dives was deeper in dive parks than in other freshwater sites, and the proportion of fatalities involving technical divers
was higher in dive parks. Solo diving was less common in dive parks which might be as expected, given that many dive
parks forbid diving alone.
Dives involving diver training accounted for 25% of freshwater diving fatalities and, of the 47 fatalities where the provenance
of the dive equipment was known, it was as common for the dive gear to have been rented or borrowed in either
dive parks or other freshwater sites (36%).
1.10 Cave diving fatalities
There were twelve cave diving fatalities in the US during 2010-2013, five involving divers who were not trained in cave
diving techniques and seven who were. Little can be learned from the untrained cases except to say that the need for cave
diver training is well known and these five lives were lost merely reinforcing this well-known maxim. The two untrained
divers who died in the Eagle’s Nest on Christmas Day provided such a tragic example of what not to do that if anyone
had any doubts that untrained divers do not belong in caves then those doubts must certainly now have been erased.
Proper training is needed to cave dive!
This year, DAN invested in an extensive analysis of the last three decades of trained US cave diving fatalities and we
recommend interested readers locate our future paper on the full dataset of 67 trained US cave diving fatalities. Looking
at the seven trained cave diving fatalities 2010-2013 is still instructive, both because the majority of cave diving fatalities
in the US today involve trained cave divers but also because the information may assist training agencies monitor
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Annual Diving Report – 2012-2015 Edition