anotHer dive accidenT in fisHing Trip

NST ALOR STAR :

A fishing trip for 10 people proved a disaster when one drowned and another was found unconscious near Pulau Perak, 60 nautical miles from Langkawi, near here 23 October 2012.

Rosli Mohamad Isa, 32, was believed to have drowned after he ran out of oxygen supply from his diving equipment.

His friend, Harris Abdullah, 44, was hospitalised after he fell unconscious while trying to rescue the victim. Harris, from Gurun, near here, was admitted to Langkawi Hospital. He is also asthmatic and in critical condition.

Rosli and nine of his friends went fishing in a rented boat when the mishap took place on Sunday.

Rosli, a technician at the Sungai Petani Municipal Council, had decided to take a dive about 10am. His friends felt something amiss after Rosli failed to emerge about an hour later and Harris went to search for him.

Friends on the boat panicked when they saw Harris and Rosli floating in the water. They fished out both men before alerting the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

Langkawi Maritime 1 district enforcement chief Captain Abdul Rahim Abdullah said Harris was flown to hospital using the agency's helicopter.

Rosli's stepbrother, Mohamad Sham Basri, 46, said: "I am lost for words. This is a sad day for the family."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The STAR ALOR STAR :

A monthly fishing trip for a 32-year-old technician and friends from Gurun turned tragic when he drowned in a diving mishap near Tukun Perak off Langkawi.

Rosli Mohamad Isa was said to have taken a dive with several friends after fishing earlier.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Langkawi Maritime District 1 enforcement chief Maritime Captain Abdul Rahim Abdullah said Rosli’s gas tank had run out of oxygen in the incident yesterday at about 11am.

“When he didn’t surface after some time, his friends dived in to search for him,” he said.

He added that one of his friends, Haris Abdullah, 44, fainted subsequently after suffering from decompression sickness for resurfacing too fast.

“Haris was airlifted to the Hospital Langkawi for treatment,” he said.

Capt Abdul Rahim said they launched a rescue operation after receiving a distress call at about 12.15pm.

Rosli’s body was later sent to the Kuala Kedah jetty by a Royal Malaysian Navy boat where his brother Fadzli Yusof claimed it.

Fadzli Yusof, 42, said his brother was an avid angler.

“He left on Sunday with nine friends. He would go to Langkawi for fishing about once a month.

“It wasn’t his first trip to Tukun Perak,” he said, adding that he received a call from Rosli’s friend at about 4pm to inform him about the incident.

Rosli leaves behind his wife, a six-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abstract

Pulmonary barotrauma-induced cerebral arterial gas embolism (CAGE) continues to complicate compressed gas diving activities. Inadequate lung ventilation secondary to inadvertent breath holding or rapid buoyant ascent can quickly generate a critical state of lung over-pressure. Pulmonary over-pressurization may also occur as a consequence of acute and chronic pulmonary pathologies. Resulting barotrauma frequently causes structural failure within the terminal distal airway. Respiratory gases are then free to embolize the systemic circulation via the pulmonary vasculature and the left heart. The brain is a common target organ. Bubbles that enter the cerebral arteries coalesce to form columns of gas as the vascular network narrows. Small amounts of gas frequently pass directly through the cerebral circulation without occlusion. Larger columns of gas occlude regional brain blood flow, either transiently or permanently, producing a stroke-like clinical picture. In cases of spontaneous redistribution, a period of apparent recovery is frequently followed by relapse. The etiology of relapse appears to be multifactoral, and chiefly the consequence of a failure of reperfusion. Prediction of who will relapse is not possible, and any such relapse is of ominous prognostic significance. It is advisable, therefore, that CAGE patients who undergo spontaneous recovery be promptly recompressed while breathing oxygen. Therapeutic compression will serve to antagonize leukocyte-mediated ischemia-reperfusion injury; limit potential re-embolization of brain blood flow, secondary to further leakage from the original pulmonary lesion or recirculation of gas from the initial occlusive event; protect against embolic injury to other organs; aid in the resolution of component cerebral edema; reduce the likelihood of late brain infarction reported in patients who have undergone spontaneous clinical recovery; and prophylax against decompression sickness in high gas loading dives that precede accelerated ascents and omitted stage decompression.