Reply With QuoteChris had a lucky escape on that run off, he was on a rebreather bail out, if he had been on a bottle he would be dead.
I have just watched this and thought it was brilliant.
" A commercial diver is stranded on the seabed with 5 minutes of oxygen, but no chance of rescue for more than 30 minutes. A true story of one man's impossible fight for survival".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...5s/last-breath
I am surprised I haven't read anything about it here!
Chris had a lucky escape on that run off, he was on a rebreather bail out, if he had been on a bottle he would be dead.
What's that? I did have a quick google but unsurprisingly it gets a bit technical!Originally Posted by seadog1408
They said a 'five minute bottle' or some such. Well that's how it sounded to a layman. Chris did mention that he thought the O2 concentration in the emergency gas made a big difference.
BTW I have been around long enough to know that you know what you're talking about!
Sorry Matt, what I meant was, he had a rebreather bail out on as they are standard in the North Sea, so they last a decent length of time as you are only adding small amounts of o2 to the breathing mix as opposed to just a standard dive bottle with a mix of heo2 (for a bail out bottle usually 20% oxygen to 80% helium, keep the o2 high for the emergency!) as his umbilical had parted due to the ship having a thruster fault, and " running off" from the location, he was lucky to have the rebreather, add the cold at that depth and his survival odds were good. Also he had a locator beacon on him ( we all wear them) so the ship could locate him quickly on gaining back control.
Quite remarkable and almost unbelievable, he was a lucky kid and a great outcome nonetheless!
Still yet to hear from the vessel owners and DP redundancy power suppliers though as to what instigated and created the "run off" in the first instance.
Thanks for the heads up. I read the article on the BBC about it ahead of the programme coming out and thought I must watch it - then promptly forgot!
I have been on the seabed for 2 run off's so far, luckily without incident, just a run along the bed.
Bit of a 'bum twitcher' Mike?
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Luckily you can wash out the hot water suits Chris!!, actually it happens so fast for the diver, you only think about it afterwards.
I very much doubt the equipment suppliers have anything to answer for. They may well be involved in the investigation however, but only if invited. (talking from experience)
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
How can you say such a thing! They have everything to answer for!
Quite - survival instinct and all that.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Interesting Mike, makes sense that C2 would be the preferred bailout given the depths involved - is this industry standard just North Sea or is it wider?
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Just North Sea I think Chris, I haven't worn a rebreather bail out in 13 years of sat diving.
Interesting, possibly due to the 'bad years' in the North Sea back in the day?.
A mate works out in Qatar as a Supervisor, must contact him to see what they do.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I spent a wee bit of time trailing the SLS bail out system back in the 1980's although it's fair to say that it's only really in recent years (last 5 or so) that any further serious investment has taken place in diver bail out breathing systems coming to the fore.
Helium recovery is a priority these days (cost) and diver safety has increased big time from the early days.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Not everything - don’t overlook the human factor
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Unknown/unique faults within the Kongsberg RBUS DP system (the communications architecture that this system employed to perform) proved vulnerable to a single point failure within the cabinets on board the vessel.
Thus allowing complete failure of this vessel's dynamic positioning system and creating the situation where the DSV lost all its station keeping abilities which subsequently led to the "run off" and the vessel drifting out of position.
This vessel was built with state of the art equipment in 2008 and had adhered to all necessary regulations allowing it to be utilised offshore in the North Sea and around the European continental shelf region, or anywhere else worldwide for that matter.
Hardly human error on the day in question I'd say!
I think it would be prudent to point out (still today) to any friends or colleagues acting as DPO's on similar DP vessels to be aware of the vulnerabilities of dual communications bus systems to this type of single point failure.
I just watched this and am amazed. I had an idea of what these guys do but this was incredible.
The programme was great, really well made and so well devised.
There was a lot of emotion throughout and I reay felt like I had been close to the incident thsn just sat watching TV in the comfort of my living room.
I love diving but recreational stuff is definitely my limit. This was something else.
Thanks OP for bringing the programme to our attention.
^^^ There's a world of difference between sport and commercial diving and the fatality statistics prove that.
I'm downloading the programme to watch later, thanks for the heads-up Matt.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Posting Permissions