Diver drowns at Blue Hole
andy carr
An employee of Ramon’s Dive Shop in San Pedro drowned while on a tour with tourists at sea. Twenty-seven year old Andy Carr had been living in San Pedro for the past ten years since moving from Hopkins. Carr was on a boat at the Blue Hole when he decided to dive into the waters without a tank. According to his brother, who also resides on the island, despite all the help he received, his brother did not survive.
Michael Carr, brother of drowning victim
“I’m working in San Pedro at Ramon’s Dive Shop along with my brother Andy Carr. He passed away yesterday about eleven-thirty a.m. in the morning. He was actually on a Blue Hole trip and then he was a snorkeling guide and he snorkeled the Blue Hole and on the second stop, which was he Half Moon Caye wall, the snorkelers decided not to go in the water and he was there in the boat and decided to take a swim. He was over the divers; they were about forty feet in depth. He decided to free dive down to the bottom with one of his buddy, Rolandito and Will, and he went down there with them and he was sucking from one of the octopus. He decided to return to the surface and he did not release the air out of his lungs and it expanded so he actually shoot out of the water and I guess he ruptured his lung. The captain was on board and assisted him with the CPR and he had all the oxygen unit but there was no way they could have revived him back. They rushed him to Long Caye and they rendered assistance there from the Coast Guard and there was nothing they could do about it.”
Jose Sanchez
michael carr
“If you could tell me a bit about your brother, who he leaves behind or what kind of person was he?
Michael Carr
“Everybody know him. He was a friendly guy. He had a lot of friends. He leaves my mother; two sisters and two brothers. I’m the youngest brother.”
Jose Sanchez
“How long had he been diving.”
Michael Carr
“He’d been snorkeling for at least seven years.”
Michael said his brother would have celebrated his twenty eighth birthday on August seventeenth.
So sad. my condolences to the family.
This is a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. All the news media are reporting it as a drowning but from the description it sounds like a Long Overexpansion Injury “Pneumothorax” and not a drowning.
What happens is if a person breathes compressed air at depth that person is ok but as soon as you start coming up that air inside your lungs start expanding due to the lowered water pressure. If the person holds his breath while coming up that air then ruptures the lungs pushing air bubbles into the chest cavity and blood vessels. THE NUMBER ONE RULE OF SCUBA DIVING IS BREATHE AT ALL TIMES AND NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH. This is so in order to prevent this type of injury.
This young man was certainly not a certified diver so whoever provided him with the compressed air at depth should be charged or at least have their PADI Divemaster certification revoked. If indeed this young man was a certified diver then it is a very sad tragedy and whoever provided him with the compressed air at depth will have his death hanging over their shoulders which should be punishment enough.
I am sure somewhere down the road the Professional Association of Diving Instructors “PADI” will get involved with the case and decide what to do with the Divemasters involved.
yeah that true what islander is saying thats the num one rule in diving so i think the just check for the guys that was with him cause and if they dont have a padi dive master the just pay especially the guys that provide with the compresser tank and revoked his certificacion
Very sad accident, but completely preventable. Any newly certified diver knows you should never hold your breath when coming up, in fact it is the ‘golden rule’ of diving.
Assuming the victim was not a diver, one would have to assume his ‘friend’ that gave him air was at least a divemaster. This friend, if that is the case, should lose his divemaster license. Absolutely unforgivable. As ‘Islander’ says, he should be reported to PADI, preferably by submitting the report himself. I imagine he must feel terrible, but he caused this death by a very basic mistake, that cost a life.
Islander, the reef and Grant, he wasn’t a diver. He was a snorkel guide. And he didn’t have compressed air with him. “Carr was on a boat at the Blue Hole when he decided to dive into the waters without a tank. ” Without a tank.