A few days back we had posted a Scuba news story where a scuba diver was dragged to a depth of 300 feet by a Giant tuna in Manila, Philippines. (If you missed it Click here). More recently more details on the incident and the condition of the diver were released.
We felt like the a giant tuna getting caught up in scuba diver, Ramir Te’s scuba diving gear and dragging him to the depth of 300 feet didn’t seem very plausible, and we were right! As we suspected, the diver who is now in stable condition but still undergoing decompression treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, was reported to have been taking part in fishing competition at the that time, where they needed to catch the biggest tuna fish to win. Turns out that when Te was around 80-ft below the sea surface, he spotted a giant tuna and immediately took aim of the fish using a spear bow with rope. After hitting the big catch, he placed the rope around his waist without noticing that the fish was still alive and he was pulled down below few seconds later. The giant tuna was said to be over 50kgs, which isn’t as big compared to sized this species can get to which is around 450 kgs, but it was still was pretty decent sized to have manage to drag a diver down with him. The diver freed himself by cutting the rope around his waist (yet another display of the importance of dive knives!) and inflated his buoyancy compensator (BCD) to make it back to surface.
Unfortunately, the quick ascent back to the surface after being so deep, Ramir Te is now facing a diver’s ultimate nightmare- Decompression Sickness (DCS) also known as Decompression Illness, ‘The Bends’ or ‘Diver’s Disease’. Decompression stops and careful procedures for ascent, require divers to spend time at different depths for a certain period of time, before surfacing. This is to safely eliminate the absorbed inert gases he breathes during the dive, from the diver’s body. Mr. Te is still temporarily half paralyzed due to the unfortunate incident and although his condition has greatly improved he will continue to undergo treatment for Decompression sickness after the hyperbaric chamber.
*Pictured above: a giant tuna ensnared off Spain to show how big the fish can get in size. Image source NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/visions/fisheries/image7.html
This was not a big tuna, but nevertheless……
However what I want to comment on is indeed the importance of divers wearing a knife.
I interviewed a doctor in the hospital on Mafi'a Island in the Indian Ocean where locals are daily diving for octopus. He told me of a commercial boat employing a dozen or so divers who use just goggles as the octopus are not deep. When they did a head count back on the boat, one man was missing. The divers went down again to search for him and found his drowned body, one arm held by the tentacle of a huge octopus in the reef.
I further spoke to an abalone diver in Dhofar province of Oman, who showed me circular scars on his wrist where he'd been grabbed by a big octopus, but who was able to cut himself free.
OK…