Div-+++-er survives 40 minutes without air
BY:MIKE WADE AND SIMON DE BRUXELLES From:Diver survives 40 minutes without airBY:MIKE WADE AND SIMON DE BRUXELLES From:The Times September 25, 2012 11:12AM
Increase Text SizeA PROFESSIONAL oil rig diver has cheated death by surviving deep in the North Sea for almost 40 minutes after his main air supply was cut.
Chris Lemons was diving at 80m when he was left with just his emergency oxygen tank after his "umbilical" was accidentally severed. The line supplies air and heating essential for work in very cold water.
While a fellow diver was able to return to the refuge of a diving bell, Mr Lemons began an agonising wait for rescue. He followed safety procedures, sitting still on top of the oil rig drill where he had been working, conserving as much oxygen as he could, and hoping that help would arrive.
By the time that he was located by a remotely operated vehicle and retrieved by his colleague, Mr Lemons was unconscious and very cold. But to the relief of his workmates, once he had been dragged inside the diving bell, he revived almost as soon as his helmet was removed.
The incident occurred last Tuesday 115 miles east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. Mr Lemons, from Mallaig, in the Scottish Highlands, was attached to the Bibby Topaz support vessel. Since the accident, both men and a third diver known as the bellman, who remained in the bell, have spent most of their time in a decompression chamber in Aberdeen.
Stories of Mr Lemons’s extraordinary calm in the face of death have won admiration from across the diving community. On an internet forum, a fellow diver described the chain of events after the "umbilical" was severed.
"Chris said he knew to try and conserve his gas even though he was freezing to death," said the diver. "He doesn’t remember slipping into unconsciousness, it just happened. It took [38 minutes] to get him back in the bell. After two breaths by the bellman he started breathing on his own.
"Once his breathing was restored he recovered quite quickly so they proceeded to start and warm him once the bell was on its way up (he was blue when they removed his hat)."
A spokesman for Bibby Offshore praised "the skill, professionalism and expertise of the crew of the Bibby Topaz" for rescuing Mr Lemons.
However, concerns have been raised about the incident that led to the severing of his main air supply. An alarm on the ship indicated that its dynamic positioning (DP) system had failed, causing the vessel to drift.
In a statement, the company described what happened: "The red light alarm was initiated; dive control was informed and both divers instructed to get back to the bell stage as soon as and as safely as possible. At this point Diver Two [Mr Lemons] noticed his umbilical had been snagged on the side of the subsea structure close to the top. He began trying to free his umbilical and requested slack.
"At 22.12 hrs, with the vessel still drifting, all communications and video was lost to Diver Two. On the bridge the DP operator, chief officer and master were trying to regain control of the vessel by manual operation of the thrusters. The bridge was in communication with dive control and was informed that Diver One was safely back on the bell stage and that Diver Two’s umbilical had been severed. At this point Diver Two had reverted to his standby breathing gas supply."
It took a further 28 minutes for the vessel to move back into position, after drifting 240m. By then Mr Lemons’s locator beacon had been seen on top of the drill rig structure. The bell was lowered again, as close as possible to the slumped diver, but it took a further six minutes to haul Mr Lemons aboard. Medical staff were on hand when the men reached the surface.
"All divers were transferred to the chamber system and treatment was provided to Diver Two, which included being put on therapeutic oxygen," said Bibby Offshore. "A routine decompression schedule commenced." Last night the company said that all three divers had "a clean bill of health".
One of Mr Lemons’s colleagues said: "Chris has been very lucky. It brings it home just how quickly things can go pear-shaped." |