A 72-year-old scuba diver died due to a ‘user error’ with his rebreather, according to a coroner’s statement made at the opening of an inquiry into his death.
Edinburgh-born Neil Barker, a retiree who lived with his wife in Chelmsford, Essex, was diving off the Devon coast near Bigbury-on-Sea, approximately 20 miles southeast of Plymouth, on 31 May when the tragedy occurred.
Witnesses report that Barker surfaced from his dive but immediately began to sink. He was brought back to his dive boat and subsequently transported by an RNLI emergency response team to Derrigord Hospital in Plymouth, but he was unable to be revived.
‘The circumstances of the death are Neil was diving in the water in an area around Bigbury,’ said Senior Coroner Philip Spinney at the opening of the inquest on 18 October at Exeter Coroner’s Court. ‘He was seen to surface and then sank. The RNLI was called and Neil was taken to Derriford Hospital. While in hospital, he was pronounced deceased at 1.45 pm.’
The court heard that preliminary findings suggest the cause of death was ‘drowning, caused by insufficient diluent gas for buoyancy and breathing, and ‘user error’ in the rebreather diving system’.
Unlike open-circuit scuba diving, in which air supplied from the diver’s tank is exhaled into the surrounding water, closed-circuit rebreathers (CCR) recycle a diver’s exhaled breaths by using a chemical ‘scrubber’ to remove carbon dioxide and a computer to inject pure oxygen back into the mixture.
Since pure oxygen is toxic under pressure, a separate tank filled with a gas mixture known as the diluent – which can be air, nitrox or trimix depending on the type of diving – is used to dilute the oxygen to make the overall gas mixture breathable. The diluent tank is also used for BCD and drysuit inflation.
In a statement following the incident posted in June, members of the Chelmsford Scuba Diving Club wrote that they were ‘deeply saddened by the loss of their friend and fellow Diver.’
‘Neil was an active, and enthusiastic diver who regularly dived with other members of the club, and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
‘The Branch wishes to extend their sincere condolences to Neil’s family at this difficult time.’
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