Durban - Annelie Wada’s fellow divers watched helplessly as she ascended rapidly out of control more than 50m to the ocean surface where she blacked out and died moments later.
The deep-sea diver was declared dead on Wednesday after attempts to resuscitate her, following the decompression accident, failed.
Wada was with three other divers descending 103m to the HMS Otus submarine wreck, 10km off the coast of Durban. The others were Patrick Voorma and Justin Jennings of Calypso Dive and Adventure, and Erich Luckfiel who has been Wada’s partner in the diving “buddy system” for the past year-and-a-half.
Wada and Luckfiel met at Calypso Dive school and this was to be their first dive to that depth, having visited almost every other wreck site around the Durban coast.
Talking at his eManzimtoti home on Thursday, Luckfiel, a technical deep-sea diving instructor with 23 years’ diving experience, recalled the tragic incident.
“She was passionate about diving. A 100m dive is a build-up and we’d done a number of dives to prepare,” he said. “We’d had lots of chats about it. We’d seen most of the other wrecks and the Otus was the last one.”
The two had been part of a 70m dive to the Ben Quorum wreck a few weeks back where Luckfiel said Annelie had been fine.
“About three months ago we attempted an 86m dive and Annelie was a bit nervous and indicated she wanted to go to 65m,” he recalled.
Diving more than 39m is referred to as technical diving and requires a number of specialty certifications and Trix-mix, a combination of oxygen, nitrogen and helium needed at depth.
Wada had completed her 200th dive in August and was experienced using Tri-mix.
This week’s dive was organised by Calypso for “Wreck Week”, which began last Friday and included a number of preparation dives, which all went well. Originally meant for Sunday, the dive was delayed to Wednesday because of weather conditions. The delay allowed Luckfiel to take part.
“If there’s anything wrong, if the sea’s rough or a member doesn’t want to go out, the dive is called off, no questions asked,” he said.
“Annelie really insisted on going on Tuesday as Monday was cancelled and they went out on the boat but the dive was cancelled because of the conditions.”
On Wednesday the four technical divers went out with helpers on one boat, and with five support divers on a separate boat.
“There was a slight current but conditions were good.”
The four started the four minute descent to the seabed, each equipped with three-stage cylinders which includes gas used up to 40m and then the switch is made to hypoxic back gas, one of three Tri-mix mixtures, which cannot be breathed at the surface because of a low oxygen, high helium mix.
“At the 40m mark I assisted Annelie with her switch to back gas because she needed confirmation that the computer gas switch was updated correctly,” Luckfiel said.
On reaching the seabed, he said he recalled Wada’s joy at finally reaching her desired depth.
“She was the first one talking (divers can talk through the regulator). She was hugging us and shaking my hand. She was so happy to be there. She lifted her hands and said, “I did it! Thank you!” said Luckfiel.
“This was her passion and the start of her build-up to her coelacanth dive expedition.”
After the planned 12 minutes was up the group began their ascent, releasing their buoys to the surface as an indicator to those on the boats that all was well.
Air is released into the left-side Buoyancy Compression Devices (BCDs) to control buoyancy, with the right side used as a back-up.
“The first stop was 69m and we were in a star formation. At about 54m we started preparing to switch to travel gas at 51m and that’s when Annelie started to ascend.”
Luckfiel said at first she ascended slightly, which was not unusual as the diver then descended again to neutralise. However, within seconds it went awry.
“She then elevated more and then was suddenly out of our reach. Patrick and I responded but she was too far although Patrick tried to go after her, risking his own life,” he said.
As the diver ascends the air in the BCD expands and the diver goes up faster. Fellow divers cannot assist, as they have to follow the decompression schedule or risk death themselves.
“We suspect she inflated the right BCD at the 100m mark and some of the air was trapped in the back-up BCD. She was dumping air from the left wing, but it was in the wrong (side). We flashed torches and sent up a yellow buoy but apparently she reached the surface before it did.”
Luckfiel felt Wada catch on his reel connecting him to the buoy and hoped she would be able to hold there, but then she was released.
The three divers were left with another hour-and-a-half of ascending without knowing what had happened to Wada, but realising the situation was dire.
“At 40m a support diver met us and we communicated using wet notes. He said she was on the boat where they were doing CPR. At that stage we still had an hour plus to go,” said Luckfiel. “It was the worst decompression of our lives.”
When they finally reached the surface, Wada had been taken to the National Sea Rescue Institute base where advanced life support was used, but to no avail.
“She was still on the Tri-mix back gas with a low oxygen content when she reached surface. If you breathe that at less than 6m it causes blackouts,” he said. “She apparently came out the water screaming, ‘I’m going to die’.”
As Wada blacked out, she could not descend to decompress in time, causing bubbles to form in the blood, leading to a gas embolism.
“We do these courses with the general risks associated with ‘tec’ diving,” he said.
“Diving with Tri-mix has its own potential hazards and it’s set out that you can get injured or die. It becomes a part of us. She’d done everything right until that point.
“If she was ever nervous she made a sound like a ghost which is why I call her ‘Casper’, but she never made a sound, only that of joy. At 57m she was celebrating. She was so chuffed. I am going to miss her, she has been an extraordinary woman and a fantastic dive buddy.”
Daily News