Team Assists with Scuba Diving Accident
October 18, 2003

 

 

VC SAR team members responded to a call for assistance from the dive boat Spectre.  Here they clear the deck of the Raden in anticipation of transferring a patient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patient transfer was quickly accomplished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sheriff's dive boat was the best choice to assist due to its fast speed and having trained emergency responders onboard including a paramedic and two emergency medical technicians.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite all efforts, the patient did not survive.

Full story from the Ventura County Star is listed below.

 

 

 

 

 

Undetermined problem leaves diver dead

By staff reports (Ventura County Star)
October 19, 2003

A San Rafael man who authorities said experienced undetermined difficulty while diving off Anacapa Island died Saturday afternoon, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department reported.

Nicholas Armington, 40, had gone into the water from the dive boat Spector. When he got in trouble he was pulled out of the water and onto the boat.

A sheriff's dive team, in the area for underwater search and rescue dive training, heard the Spectre request emergency assistance for a diver having a medical problem, according to a news release.

The sheriff's rescue boat, with a paramedic, two emergency medical technicians and five dive team members, responded to the Spectre's request.

Although authorities apparently would have preferred to take Armington to shore aboard a Coast Guard vessel, which would have been faster, it was determined one could not reach the Spectre quickly enough, so he was placed in the sheriff's boat.

During the 30-minute trip to shore, dive-team members tried in vain to revive Armington with CPR. He was pronounced dead at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. The circumstances leading to Armington's death were not known late Saturday. His body was turned over to the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office for further investigation.