Scuba Diver Panic from 15 meters - Scuba Diving Incident Analysis

Big Q to folks out there...what is your experience with trying to force a reg into a bolting diver's mouth? For those who want to support the channel: Patreon - www.patreon.com/discoverydiverstokyo

I was faced with a similar scenario while diving the Niagara River 30 years ago. My buddy suddenly panicked and it was all I could do to try to slow his ascent while dealing with a three knot current to boot. He ripped off his mask, spat out his reg and proceeded to tangle himself in the buddy and buoy lines. I was somehow able to move behind him, grab his tank valve/1st stage with my right hand and his BCD inflator with my left. I was barely able to slow his ascent ‘cause he was kicking like a mule. Soon as we hit the surface he was screaming HELP ME!! over and over and tried to turn and climb on me. I inflated his BCD, dropped the inflator, grabbed his valve with my left hand and used my right to find his quick-release buckle and dropped his weights. That was most terrifying dive of my life and it almost made me quit afterwards. When somebody punches out like that, you have to keep your head, move swiftly and take control. But I’m under no illusions that the situation could’ve just as easily gone south despite my following protocol. Diving simply isn’t for everyone, and has the body count that proves it.

I was PADI instructor. All our open-water dives were in cold water with limited viz. Only had one guy panic at depth. Luckly he never spat his reg out but bolted for the surface from 10m. I seen he was a little sketchy and was on him straight away. Grabbed him, dumped the air out his BCD got eye contact with him and stopped the accent. After he was calmer and breathing normal we made a controlled accent. Another time it was me who was the panicked diver. Me an a couple of military mates where diving in the Lake district in the UK, Conistion. We were around 22m and the viz was terrrible. Been down for about 10minutes when i looked to check my depth an air, seen i only had 50 bar left. Signalled to the lads that i was going up to 6m for a safety stop before surfacing. As i started my accent i found that i had no air in the cylinder. I was around 18m and panicked. Having no breath i went for the surface. I would of ended up with a bend or even worse but one of lads Dave. Grabbed me and shoved his octo (spare regulator) in my mouth and calmed me down. Luckily i was still at depth and could make a safety stop at the 6m before we surfaced. We found out after, i had a leak in the first stage and had been losing air as soon as i started the descent. Even with the safety check before the dive we never got on to it. So we guess it was the O"ring on the cylinder which did look like it had a bit of a pinch when we looked closely. Dave and the other lad laughed when we had a debrief. He said "i knew you were f----d when i seen your eye's, size of dinner plates they were" ( just like the girl in the video). Anyways after a surface break and change of cylinder we got another dive in. Never forget that day😃

I panicked my first ever dive. We were in Cozumel and I was doing a discovery dive with about 30 minutes of training and a little practice in the shallows. We started moving to deeper water and i was doing great enjoying the dive and all the marine life. We were at about 20' to 25' when another discovery diver knocked my reg out of my mouth using her hands to maneuver. Needless to say my limited training was not enough for me to keep my composure and do a reg recover. My first instinct was get to the surface as fast as I can and breath. I didn't rip my mask off but I had a strong urge to try to breath a few times before breaking the surface. The master diver surface right behind me and checked on me. She helped me calm down before she had to descend back down to the other newbies (she didn't leave them alone, her assistant stayed with them). After a few minutes and some slow deep breaths I calmed down enough to descend again and complete the dive with the group. This just happened a in March of 2022. I went to Roatan in April and got my OW. I am now hooked, but I will admit that video is hard to watch.

While on an intro dive in the Red Sea (not deep about 20 feet, my mask started filling up, think it was too big, my instructor was watching me closely as I kept trying to clear it, she said afterwards she could see I was doing it wrongly, but didnt want to touch it incase I panicked. I gestured to her to take me up before it came to that, on the surface I did it properly and we went back down & I had a lovely dive, she was brilliant 🙂

Just completed my online exam and moving on to the next step toward getting my SCUBA certification. I have enormous respect for this activity/sport. Especially after spending all the time in the online test. These videos make me want to be safer for myself and my family.

When we got our training, we did practice drills in a pool. We simulated many types of emergency scenarios over and over. The worst part of this training, was being grabbed and held by a frantic, simulated drowning person. It is really rough because they knock your reg out of your mouth over and over again. You have to remain calm and resist getting panicked too. Not everyone is suited (pun) for this activity. Better to find out in the pool than in a cave or very deep water.

This is second video of yours that I have watched. The content is very good and informative, but the format of stopping and starting the video is VERY frustrating. Please consider letting the video play once through it's entirety at the beginning, then going back and stop/start with your commentary. Other YouTubers use this technique to great effect and enjoy very large subscriber bases. Thank you.

I've seen this video a few times, and it never gets easier to watch... Stepping frame by frame through the bubbly ascent, it looks like the reg never actually makes it into her mouth, only right next to her lips. In the original video, with more sound, when they get to the surface, you can hear her hyperventilating while trying to open her hood opening. To me, it looks like a full-blown panic attack. We don't have any information about Remaining Gas Supply, or what happened before the video begins, which would help a ton. I have witnessed a new-ish diver have a mild panic attack partway through a dive, at around 12 meters, due to "wetsuit constriction". She was using a rental wetsuit, but had chosen a wetsuit that was too tight. After about 15 minutes, she began to feel a panic setting in and signaled 'Problem'. I could see in her face that she was NOT having a small issue, so we thumbed the dive. On the surface, she exhibited a similar reaction to the woman in this video, hyperventilating and disoriented. When we were debriefing the incident ashore, she said the feeling just started to overcome her. After a long SI, she wanted to try again, with a larger wetsuit. We did, and kept the depth to 8 meters for 20 mins, then stepped our way down to 15m and the diver had no issues after that. Needless to say, she's much more careful about choosing her wetsuit now..... I wonder if the woman in this video had a similar issue, maybe feeling constricted, add in a possible mask flood or low gas remaining, and the situation can quickly grew worse... I sure am glad she made it to the surface though!

This is really hard to watch - she's clearly massively panicked and stressed. Conditions aren't ideal - limited viz, a fairly large group, and pretty deep for who I can only assume is a fresh trainee - perhaps the deepest she's been. Looks like she's focused on some problem or other - guessing her mask since she pulls it off later. I remember first time I trained I was afraid of taking my mask off (I was convinced the sea water would sting my eyes like bad swimming pool water can) and that seems to be a very common trainee fear, so it wouldn't suprise me. Once the reg is spit out or lost I can only imagine how terrified she must be, and I'd assume any attempt to slow her assent would only make her struggle more as survival instinct kicks in and the urge to rush to the surface can easily overcome training that hasn't yet become ingrained by repetition and practice. Again I remember training alongside my mum, and I was getting out of breath as there was a slight current and signalled as such then thumbed up. My mum just signalled to check my gas and NDL (loads of both left) and just indicated to stop, pause and get my breath back - then we continued. Moral of the story was if you've got gas and time, there's nothing to fear or fret about, and there's nothing topside that you haven't got right there with you - so take your time, and work the problem, rather than pile more complexity into it. Very wise woman, is my mum!

Something similar happened to me on my first boat dive, I was clearing my mask and I breath water, the instructor back then grabbed me by the leg, put back the reg on my mouth, I started vomiting, he hold my reg while I was vomiting till I got calmed again, after that I was able to put my mask on again and continue with the dive, it was a really unpleasant experience, but I was able to keep calm an trust my instructor. Lesson learned keep calm don't ever remove your reg and from there then you can move forward with any necessary actions, panic is you worst enemy underwater.

Watched the original in one of the source links and also realized that her breathing rate also was accelerated , and we can also see here that in 3:25 she was already moving their hands in an abnormal way, giving a sign of possible panic scenario. At the end: 1-didn't saw anyone inflating her BCD 2-diver on the left of the screen removed his mask to the forehead and not to the neck 3-diver on the right using snorkel on the right side (Maybe #2 is because the urge to help on the surface, but for me that's 3 signals of inexperienced divers.)

You can see her half way through the panic she screamed and let out some big bubbles.

The Horror! When I went through the Padi/Naui course here in Boston (almost 50 yrs ago) a sizable amount of time was spent panic proofing you. Able and local legend instructor Wally Westphal weeded out panic at the bottom of the pool to try to keep it out of the ocean. Quite the character but didn't see the humor in my answer to the purposes of your dive knife. Apparently "To help salvage your Buddies equipment" didn't sit well with him. Interesting channel, worth a Subscription

Looks like the dive master managed to get the regulator into her mouth. She was very lucky, it was a very close call. Tragedy averted for a change. Props to the dive master.

You seem like a great, competent, professional scuba instructor. Very wise.

Been gone for a few months getting, looks like the channel is growing !! Very exciting !

Based on the video it seems like the panic diver had forced the reg out due to pulling mask to neck level. The diver might not intentionally removing reg from mouth but the mask and panic. Personally I have experienced this not once but several times while students doing DSD. The main cause was always diver accidentally inhale through their nose and started choking and panicking. As a dive professional we all were taught to be caution and always standby to react to these situation, without a doubt the camera person in this video did well, donate AAS immediately. But honestly since I have experienced this first hand, I'd say the donor will most likely fail to secure the AAS into the receiver's mouth, in most case. I have had panic divers who refused to take my AAS when I try to put it into their mouth by swinging their hand over me. Anyway, good job Jim looking forward for more of your videos.

Thanks for sharing this video. As a former instructor/dive master I always: 1. Assess my comfort during preparation (gear assembly, buddy check, dive plan etc); 2. Closely monitor my first 5 minutes in the water. I feel panic starts well before it shows to others. SSI 996/ NAUI / PADI 50276*

This is why training by putting you in these uncomfortable situation is so vital. I have spent hours in the pool training, getting the mask yanked off, tossed away, and you need to find it, get it on, cleared and then you may resume. Same with the reg, a rouge dive trainer will suddenly yank your reg - tie it up where you can't reach it. You and dive buddy solve the problem. A lot of annoying, very uncomfortable moments but what you learn is invaluable when some variables are a bit out of whack and an issue arise - you troubleshoot to avoid disaster. After we have "mastered" the annoyance we go to dark, cold water and rinse and repeat all issues. There will be new sensations such as cold water hitting your face and entering nostrils. The darkness of murky water makes finding your lost gear much more difficult, bottom silth will be disturbed so you have to have patience and move slow as not to make situation worse. Also practise safe ascent leaving "defective gear" behind like tank, vest. Yes, you can have way more fun than do these practises but what many forget quickly (in the comfort of all equipment functioning normally) is that you are in a human hostile environment that will kill you generally within 2 minutes with good conditions, 1 minute or less in panic.