Last March, 5-foot, 4-inch tall Carrina Beer was doing a shore dive with her university's dive club in 7ºC (44º F) water, despite having little experience with the sport. During the excursion, her friends spotted without her regulator in her mouth and rushed her to the surface. She later died. According to diving safety specialist Nicholas Bailey, who recently inspected Beer's gear, the 7mm men's semi-drysuit she was using was too big and "not suitable" for the conditions. According to Bailey, "Carrina was a slim girl and the suit would have been a very loose fit on her, which means it would have a very poor thermal retention. All suits are designed to be a snug fit and to allow just a little water in, but this suit would have allowed cold water to come rushing through, chilling the diver much more than it was meant to."
Apparently, the fact that she was not feeling well prior to the dive was a contributing factor in her death, which has been ruled "accidental." Her friends, who for some reason didn't encourage her to use the proper equipment, have been ruled "dummies."
1. Why do people do stupid things like this? Don't they think?
Posted at 3:44PM on Jan 15th 2007 by Adam