A Tragic Event that could have been avoided

Tuesday night, an accident occurred in Nemo 33.

At the end of the evening after all divers were out of the water, one member of the staff decided to do some freediving alone in the deep tank...
And of course, what had to happen happened, he blacked out and sank to the bottom and was later brought dead back to the surface.

Everyone now talks about a freediving accident but for me it's not a freediving accident: it's an accident involving a scuba diver with no freediving education whatsoever doing breath-hold diving with absolutely no respect for the basic safety rules and who didn't care nor thought about the consequences of his actions.

We, freediving instructors are spending our lifes preaching the buddy system and telling that a blackout or a samba is not something you'll die from if someone just bring you back to the surface and keeps your airways above the water.

And in a fraction of a second someone can wipe out days, weeks, months even years of work by behaving selfishly.

I might sound hard but it's what I deeply feel. Yesterday I met the diver's family, I'm thinking about them, left behind, full of questions, and I'm extremely sad but it doesn't change my way of looking at what he did and I can't understand such a behavior.

I'm tired of having people telling me that freediving is dangerous and that a lot of people are dying while practicing, and then explaining them that there mostly are 3 kind of breath hold diving fatalities: spearfishermen diving alone, people training alone in pools and no-limits divers who fucked up big time.

But nobody dies when freediving activities are conducted with respect of basic safety rules and with self-respect of your own abilities and disabilities.

And I know I'll take lot of flak for saying that but I don't give a shit.

Putain de semaine.

Frederic Buyle