Date: 14th June 2013 Incident Type: Serious Injury Name: Withheld Location: Port Gentil, Gabon Company: Sigma Client: Not Known Type of Diving: Surface Supplied Air Depth: Approx 3.5m Link to Topic: thediversassociation/index.php/topic/591-serious-injury-to-diver-in-gabon-14th-june-2013/ Details: The following information has been provided to the Association: French National, aged 28. Working on an old unused jetty to remove sheet piling with exothermic rods in the harbour of Port Gentil. Two divers in the water, diver one burning horizontal cuts at seabed level, diver two following some distance behind burning vertical cuts to surface. On near completion of cutting the sheet pile was connected to the crane using chain brothers, and hooks. After completion of the cuts, the section would be recovered to surface with divers out of the water. Sequence of Events: 1. Diver 1 reports that he is stuck in the sand to his knees and cannot free himself 2. The supervisor instructs diver 2 to assist diver 1 3. Diver 2 finds diver 1 buried to his waist. Visibility poor 4. Diver 2 tries to free diver 1, but has no success due to hard compacted sand 5. Supervisor deploys standby diver with caviblast equipment 6. Diver 1 sinking in sand to chest level, diver 2 and standby diver cannot free diver 1 due to compacting sand 7. Rescue davit does not reach diver 1, crane deployed over diver 1 8. Hook and chain cannot fit into lifting D ring on diver 1 harness (Divex) 9. Hook placed through shoulder loop on harness and lift attempt made 10. Shoulder loop breaks on lift attempt, transferred to other shoulder loop which also breaks 11. Another attempt to lift the diver made by attaching to the bailout back pack, but only pulls bail out up divers back 12. Hook and chain wrapped around bailout pillar valve and divers umbilical to attempt another lift 13. Bailout supply shears at pillar valve, and umbilical supply severed 14. Hook and chain passed around chest and under arms 15. Diver 1 recovered to deck 16. Diver 1 not breathing and without pulse. EAR, CPR, Defibrillator and portable O2 provided to diver 17. Diver 1 regains pulse, but in coma 18. Diver transported to local hospital, then medivaced to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he is placed in intensive care The diver suffered broken ribs with the crane lift around his chest, but is now reported to be recovering. Further information from the diving company reports that there may have been an obsolete drainage pipe between the external sheet piles and the outer lagoon to allow drainage during tidal movement. Subsequent seabed soundings showed sand/deposit movement indicating a flow path and possible differential pressure in the vicinity that the divers was working in. Sources: Emails sent to the alerts email address ________________________________________ To contribute information to the alert system send an email to: alerts@thediversassociation All personal information will be kept in the strictest confidence. To receive these incident reports directly, register with the Divers Association at thediversassociation Dedicated to improving diver safety, worldwide! ________________________________________ Disclaimer: This incident alert is sent out to members of The Divers Association for information purposes only. It is not intended to take the place of any official investigation or inquiry, and should be used as an alert to the fact that a serious incident has occurred only.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 12:30:42 +0000
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