Diver died at 75m when diving Plura in Norway

[Per Lundström]

Link to news article in Norway:

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1424424.ece

Translation of article:

Two people dived together, only one came back up. He could tell that his buddy had problems and had died. It became clear that he had died at a depth of 75m, 1200 m in the cave, and therefore it was no point sending in the "Sea-King" says rescue leader Jako Carlsen by main rescue central in northern Norway.

The buddy of the deceased diver where treated with oxygen after his ascent. There has been a gathering of divers in Plurdalen, east of Mo i Rana.

The rescue central got information regarding the accident 7 a clock, Wednesday night.

[Ingemar Lundgren]

I am very sorry to hear that... Anyone know more?

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Diving banned in Plura. The head of police have banned diving in Rana county after the tragic accident. To dive there a permit is now needed.

Info in Norwegian.
http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.851643

Also; The Norwegian fire brigade is sending specialty divers from Oslo for body recovery. I sincerely hope they know more about cave diving then the Swedish fire brigade does.

http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.850162

[Ronald Larsen]

http://www.rebreatherworld.com/rebreather-accidents-incidents/6391-rebreather-caverdiver-dies-plura-cave-system.html

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Some more information http://www.fvn.no/nyheter/lillesand/article390162.ece

A brief summary of the news;

19.05 Wednesday evening rescue Norway was alerted there had been a diving accident in Plura cave, Rana county Norway. The divers buddy reported that he died 1200m inside the cave at a depth of 75m.

The recovery team (is this the fire brigade team?) do not want to enter the cave until earliest on Sunday. They need time to prepare according to the news paper.

I have herd that the recovery team from the fire brigade in Oslo are some of the divers from NTD (norsk teknisk dykkekrets). They where pioneers of early technical diving in Scandinavia and did the original exploration in Plura. At the time a great achievement. I wish them good luck and my condolences to the deceaseds family.

The diver was using a Megalodon eCCR. That is all the information there is at this point.

[Per Lundström]

From another list:

Norwegian broadcasting has just released the name of the desceased diver.

It was Ståle Tveitane, Meg-diver and all-around great guy.

And here is a link to a new article:

http://www.agderposten.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/LOKAL8/108180113

[Fredrik Taule]

This is justs sad on so many different levels.
Condolences to family and friends.

Fredrik

[Tomas]

Yes, very sad. Hope to see a “IUCRR-style” accident Analysis so that we will have a chance to figure out what really happend in there.

// Tomas

[Bjorn Christensen]

I can`t find any word for it.
Condolences to Ståles family and friends from me too.

[Richard Lundgren]

Terrible news. I got the news early this Thursday as I was going out to sea at Plymouth. Incidents like this puts things in perspective.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Richard Lundgren

[Ingemar Lundgren]

The fire department divers failed to locate the body on Sunday. They where only searching in the Air chamber and did not dive in the deep part.

Now the Norwegian police is discussing how to recover the body as safely as possible. They are investigating if divers from the cave diving community can do it. There are regulations that could stop this though (bureaucrats :mad: ).

According to todays newspaper the diver lost his life at 110m depth due to the rebreather failing to function. The buddy dragged him up to 75m depth but had to leave him there to save him self. This is not a situation one would want to be in.

According to Fredrik Taule who recently laid the line down to 110m depth the conditions are difficult with great potential for silt outs.


http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.872901

[Peter Tuvesson]

According to todays newspaper the diver lost his life at 110m depth due to the rebreather failing to function. The buddy dragged him up to 75m depth but had to leave him there to save him self.

http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.872901


Ingemar, nothing personal, but I have to say that your translation from Norwegian into English is somewhat distorded. In my opinion the article states that he had problems with his equipment att 110 m, not that his rebreather failed to function and that he got help up to 75 m where the other diver no longer could assist to save his life, not that he lost his life at 110 m. That is also closer to what whas told to the divers that attended the meet after the accident, but since there is an ongoing investigation at hand I don't want to comment this further.

/P

[Ingemar Lundgren]

"Den savnede 37-åringen dykket sammen med en kamerat i Pluragrotta utenfor Mo i Rana onsdag kveld da han fikk problemer med utstyret på 110 meters dyp. Makkeren klarte å ta 37-åringen opp til 75 meters dyp, men da stod ikke lenger livet til å redde. Og kompisen måtte selv ta seg ut for å redde sitt eget liv. "

Sorry i summed up the article to short. Here is a more accurate translation.

"The 37 year old dove together with his friend in Plura cave outside Mo i Rana Wednesday evening when he encountered problems with his equipment at 110m depth (i assumed it was the rebreather). His friend managed to take the diver up to 75m depth, but his life could not be saved. The friend had to leave the cave by him self"

That should be an accurate translation? Sorry if i caused confusion.

[Fredrik Taule]

Ingemar, nothing personal, but I have to say that your translation from Norwegian into English is somewhat distorded. In my opinion the article states that he had problems with his equipment att 110 m, not that his rebreather failed to function and that he got help up to 75 m where the other diver no longer could assist to save his life, not that he lost his life at 110 m. That is also closer to what whas told to the divers that attended the meet after the accident, but since there is an ongoing investigation at hand I don't want to comment this further.

/P

Generally speaking cave divers have been good at sharing knowledge, facts and information on incidents so that the general cave diving community can learn, and avoid having to learn everything "the hard way".

If only a fraction of the rumors surrounding the incident has some substance there should be one or two things that would be smart to make note of. I'm sure everyone would rather like to see facts instead of having to relate to various rumors. In addition it's the most efficient way to know down rumors. I hope that the cave diving community will be given the opportunity to familiarize them self with the facts and evaluate what, if any, implication that should have on ones diving.

Best,

Fredrik

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Sheck Exley once wrote the book Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival . It was the foundation of cave diving safety. It was based on a number of accident analasysts... I hope we will see one in this case as well.

[Peter Tuvesson]

Sheck Exley once wrote the book Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival . It was the foundation of cave diving safety. It was based on a number of accident analasysts... I hope we will see one in this case as well.

Well, I am sure that everyone on this list is enlightend enough to know that. I think this accident will not att so much to that excellent pamphlet other than maybe add a chapter how to deal with state- and local authorities when an accident is a fact, and of course confirm already known facts about how one problem can lead to another and end up a disaster.

Fredrik I saw one of your members in your exploration team at the site when we left Plura, so I think he has gotten the same info that we did.

I have to say that everyone that where there acted calmly when it became a fact that an accident had occured, and those who could be of help in som way acted while others kept out of the way to cause as little comotion as possible.

I am a bit disapointed the way the work safety responsibility and lack of knowledge the Police seems to have for cave diving training makes them unwilling to try to recover Ståle with help of those who know Plura and are willing to locate him. It is easy to ban and se threats in the unknown, but I wonder why it is not prohibited to walk across a road or to take a swim at the beach or smoke for that matter, just examples where people die in numbers yearly. Could it be that people are so used to this happening that it is ragarded as a "normal" accident that we have to count on in everyday life.

In this case I think it would be best to get Ståle out of the cave, for the peace of mind for Ståles relatives and friends firstly and secondly to confirm known facts or add facts to the investigation. Then it is an appropriate time for the aftermath that we may come to take part of and evaluate, but that informationcan can only come from those who where involved in planning, preparing and executing the dive. Everything else at this time is jumping to conclusions and speculation.

It was a very fine week in Plura, but also a very sad ending.


This has been broadcasted:

Interviews in norwegan with Ståles teammate Bjarte, Vebjörn Karlsen and Ståles father: http://nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.882733



My deepest sympaties for what Ståles family is going thru and everthing our friends at the farm in Plura has to endure and for the loss that Ståles friends feels.

/P

[Charlotta Carlén]

Well, I am sure that everyone on this list is enlightend enough to know that.

Even if this might be true it does not hurt to promote this as you said ”excellent pamphlet”, that it truly is. There might be people on here that are very enlightened in several areas but still do not know of Sheck Exley’s “A Blueprint for Survival”. ;)

I am sad to hear the authorities are unwilling to work faster and not collaborating better with the cave diving community. :( :(

For so many reasons it is important to recover Ståle. Mostly to fulfill his family’s wishes but also to establish what went wrong and why.

When accidents like this occur the most important thing is information. The faster accurate information is spread the better. This is not only important for the family and friends but also for (and maybe mostly) for the diving community. In lack of accurate information speculation is inevitable and very natural. This is a way for people to try and understand and make sense of things.

My deepest condolences to Ståles family and friends

[Lars]

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.892660 (http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.892660)

short summary:

Rescue divers from England and necessary equipment shall be on site by the end of this week, but there is still uncertain when the divers will be able to enter the cave. Says police inspector Jon Helge Vang

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Anybody knows who these rescue divers from England are?

[Matt Duke]

Anybody knows who these rescue divers from England are?

I heard it may be from the UK cave diving group. I believe Phil Short is the main contact person for such activities.

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Phil Short is a very competent and good diver. I have dived with him on a lot of projects. I think he will do a good job. But why fly in divers from England? No one in the world can do a safe cave dive according to HSE regulations anyway. The HSE rules are just not designed for cave diving. There are plenty of competent Norwegian divers. How is the goverment thinking?

[Matt Duke]

Phil Short is a very competent and good diver. I have dived with him on a lot of projects. I think he will do a good job. But why fly in divers from England? No one in the world can do a safe cave dive according to HSE regulations anyway. The HSE rules are just not designed for cave diving. There are plenty of competent Norwegian divers. How is the goverment thinking?

I am very dissapointed in the Norsk police, I would agree and I cannot possibly understand why they would not use their own divers.

Very odd.

The police must have their reasons, but it must be painful for the guys wanting to go in and get Ståle. :(

[Tomas Nilsson]

The issue at hand for the Norwegian authorities is not as easy as it might seem. If they would say "go" to a local dive team they also take upon themselves the responsibility as "employers". They would in fact be responsible for the rescue team’s wellbeing. Since deep cave recoveries are very rare they do not have a procedure to manage a situation like this. If something would happen to the recovery dive team someone from the local authority may very well end up in court.

The reason why they bring in divers from elsewhere is simply to use a gap in the law and regulations regarding safety at work in Norway.

This does not in any way mean that I think the time this process takes is OK. It is tragic that it has to be like this. I wish to send my deepest condolences to Ståles family and friends.

One interesting thing is though if this accident would happen somewhere else, like in the area where you live, how would the authorities react there?

/Tomas

[Tomas]

On Sunday British and Norwegian divers located the body on 70 m depth

The plan is to bring him out on Monday or Tuesday.

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.911581 (http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nordland/1.911581)

// Tomas Spångberg

[Peter Tuvesson]

Information in Norweigan that states that the body is recovered

http://www.ranablad.no/nyheter/article2260915.ece

Also

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/sorlandet/1.918635


/P

[Richard Lundgren]

The details given by Bjarte, the surviving team member, hints that hypoxia might be the cause of the accident. Does anyone have information on what kind and amount of bailout that was used in the deep end?

Richard

[Ingemar Lundgren]

From the article

"Det man vet er at Tveitane brukte et annet system enn det de fleste av kollegene benytter til grottedykking, og man tror at det var en svikt i surstoffsystemet som forårsaket ulykken.
– Det er viktig å få sjekket utstyret hans, slik at vi kan få et endelig svar på hva det var som gikk galt, sier Bjarte Vestøl. "

My translation

Tveitane was using different equipment from what most cave divers are using and the belief is that something went wrong with the "oxygen system" that caused the accident.
- It is important to examine his equipment so that we can get an answer to what went wrong, said Bjarte Vestøl.

[Personal-scuba]

Always tragic when somebody dies but as long as he loved what he was doing thats what counts. Wish his family happy memories.
Matty
www.personal-scuba.com (http://www.personal-scuba.com)

[Peter Tuvesson]

Ranablad today about the remaining work (Norweigan):

http://www.ranablad.no/nyheter/article2262484.ece

About the Brittish team leader who lives in Sweden and is an active speleologist and a former cave/sump diver.

http://users.du.se/~mdo/

http://cucc.survex.com/expo/folk/l/msd.htm

http://www.speleo.se/bsc/BSC%202007/Startpage.html

http://www.speleo.se/

/P

[MSD]

Well, all I have to say is that the mission was completed in safety. The results speak for themselves. I just hope I don't have to do it again, so please dive safely!

Mark Dougherty, team leader for the deep diving operation at Plura

[Robert]

...
Thanks and respect for a job well done!
Hope alle the 'chieftains' in the norwegian state bureaucracy who was up there didn't give you divers to much hassle.

br,
Robert

[Richard Lundgren]

Well, all I have to say is that the mission was completed in safety. The results speak for themselves. I just hope I don't have to do it again, so please dive safely!

Mark Dougherty, team leader for the deep diving operation at Plura

Mark,

Respect and congratulations to a job well done! Only a few understands how difficult this operation must have been. Are you in a position where you can share some basic information regarding the operation in general?

Take care
Richard Lundgren

[MSD]

Obviously the entire accident and recovery operation is subject to an official investigation, so I can say very little about it at this stage. I can say that the lead divers were Rick Stanton and Jason Mallinson. I don't need to say that these are two of the very best cave divers in the business and a job like this needs the best. I also know them both personally and that's important when you are surface controlling this kind of operation. The head of the cave diving section in the Swedish Speleo Federation, Nicklas Myrin, was my assistent and was also available to the deep divers for help kitting up etc.

Cooperation with all the different organisations involved (Norwegian cave rescue, police, fire service, military, civil defence, health and safety etc.) was very smooth. Obviously it took some time to plan such an operation and travel to the site, but once we started work everything went very well.

A few safety precautions were taken, like electric heated undersuits, an in-water decompression habitat in sump 2 and recompression facilities at the surface. We also had a radio communication system to the air chamber so that the support divers could report back to the surface. When performing search/recovery tasks at depth, bottom times can be long and a very long decompression schedule in cold water beyond another sump is a risky business unless you plan for it properly.

Any details concerning the accident itself are confidential until the formal investigation has been concluded. How long that will take I don't know.

Mark

[Richard Lundgren]

Obviously the entire accident and recovery operation is subject to an official investigation, so I can say very little about it at this stage. I can say that the lead divers were Rick Stanton and Jason Mallinson. I don't need to say that these are two of the very best cave divers in the business and a job like this needs the best. I also know them both personally and that's important when you are surface controlling this kind of operation. The head of the cave diving section in the Swedish Speleo Federation, Nicklas Myrin, was my assistent and was also available to the deep divers for help kitting up etc.

Cooperation with all the different organisations involved (Norwegian cave rescue, police, fire service, military, civil defence, health and safety etc.) was very smooth. Obviously it took some time to plan such an operation and travel to the site, but once we started work everything went very well.

A few safety precautions were taken, like electric heated undersuits, an in-water decompression habitat in sump 2 and recompression facilities at the surface. We also had a radio communication system to the air chamber so that the support divers could report back to the surface. When performing search/recovery tasks at depth, bottom times can be long and a very long decompression schedule in cold water beyond another sump is a risky business unless you plan for it properly.

Any details concerning the accident itself are confidential until the formal investigation has been concluded. How long that will take I don't know.

Mark

Mark

I suspected that Rick would be one of the divers chosen for this task. He was an ideal candidate for the job as he also works as a fireman back home in the UK apart from being a cave diver.

Did you put the habitat at the end of the sump, before the restriction to leading to the deep section? This becomes even more impressing since you were able to do all of this in such a short time.

How long time did the divers spend in the water during the longest exposure?

Richard

[MSD]

The habitat was near the beginning of sump 2, specifically for the 6m and 3m stops. It could have been installed lower if necessary, but it becomes more complicated to arrange if it has to be moved from one mounting point to another (obviously the depth can only be adjusted without moving it within the limits of the height of the cave pasage). Most of the deco time is in shallow water anyway.

Without going back to my logs (which I don't have with me at this moment), I can't give you exact information about the dive times. They were in sump 2 for maybe 1½ hours in total. Of course we were prepared for both deeper and longer dives than were actually necessary.

Mark

[Ingemar Lundgren]

Hi Mark,

Would be interesting to know more about the habitat you built. How was it designed and how did you get it in there etc.

[MSD]

You can see a picture of the design at:

http://www.trimix.net/Expeditions_pagina's/grot_expeditie_2004.htm

Basically it's a "tent" made of polyurenthane material with an aluminum frame around the bottom. The one used in Plura had a volume of 250 litres, I think it must have been smaller than the one in the picture. To fasten it to the floor you use a couple of pieces of caving rope (tied to big rocks or something else solid) which are then passed through Petzl Stop abseiling devices. The only difference being that you abseil upwards instead of downwards!

Obviously you need to set it up at the deepest stop you are going to use it for, since it will only move easily one way. I have never been in it, but I guess the black bands can be tied across to make seats. There must also be a dump valve at the top to get the air out.

The entire device comes apart and can be packed into a standard caving tacklebag.

If you want to know more about it, I suggest you contact John Volanthen from the CDG. He designed and built it.

Msrk