The Failure to Understand Your Computer

Was it the lure of depth or the inability to understand his computer? According to witnesses at a Cayman Coroner's Court in April, Victor Crawford, a 62-year-old diver from Alabama and passenger aboard the Cayman Aggressor, had dived to a depth of 314 feet while breathing nitrox (which should not be used below 110 feet). Health Services Authority pathologist Dr. Shravan Jyoti said the cause of death was drowning as a result of 'nitrogen toxicity.'

Crawford went missing in March 2015 during a group dive before divers from Ocean Frontiers discovered his body later. (See the full article in Undercurrent, June 2015.)

Although witnesses said that the deceased was an experienced diver, Department of Environment spokesman Scott Slaybaugh said the case involved "a series of actions which were significantly hazardous and far beyond the standard of safe diving practices."

These included leaving the group to dive alone, going beyond the maximum operating depth for the gas he was breathing and ascending rapidly without making the decompression stops mandated by his computer.

Coroner Eileen Nervik read statements of four witnesses to the case, before the jurors deliberated and came to their verdict of "misadventure."

(Source: Cayman Compass)