Exclusive: Coast Guard Deaths Were Preventable

Jan. 12, 2007 — -- A report released today sheds new light on the mysterious deaths of two U.S. Coast Guard divers killed during a training dive in the Arctic last summer. According to the report, the divers may have carried too much weight that they could not easily jettison in an underwater emergency.

Coast Guard investigators said the tragedy was preventable and resulted from a "failure" of the command staff and dive team to "properly plan for and execute" a standard cold water dive.

"We are totally committed to doing everything possible to ensure this tragedy is never repeated," said Real Admiral David Pekoske, the Coast Guard's assistant commandant for operations.

Thirty-one-year old Lt. Jessica Hill and 22-year-old boatswain's mate Steven Duque were killed Aug. 17, 2006, during what was supposed to be a routine training dive. The deaths -- the first Coast Guard diver fatalities in 30 years -- occurred about 500 miles north of Barrow Alaska. The divers were assigned to the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy.

The report cited "numerous violations of [Coast Guard] and Navy diving manuals," including inadequate preparation, improper use of the diving equipment, inadequately trained diver tenders, and a failure to ensure proper supervision and " redundancy " of the "dive capability in case of emergency."

Each of the divers carried approximately 60 pounds of weight-- twice the recommended amount-- in the pockets of their buoyancy compensation devices, or BCDs, the report says. The BCD provides neutral buoyancy underwater, using a combination of air pockets and weights.

Hill and Duque "filled not only the weight pockets but also the equipment pockets of the BCD. Thus, much of the divers' weight could not be easily jettisoned," the report says.

Soon after beginning the dive, Hill and Duque rapidly descended as much as 220 feet, according to the report. Dive tenders on the surface, who monitored ropelike lines connected to the divers, became concerned that too much tending line was being let out too quickly. They brought the divers to the surface at 6:48 PM. Despite efforts to resuscitate them, both divers were pronounced dead at about 8:00 PM.