Just Drop It

It’s no secret that occasionally a diver in an emergency fails to drop his weight belt because he doesn’t want to lose it — it’s valuable and, most often, rented. This thrifty thinking has led to death. In a twist on this sad tale, a British soldier died while sport diving on a wreck off Cyprus in January. He lost his fin, made a desperate attempt to retrieve it, and ran out of air. The moral of the story: save yourself first; you’re worth more than a $50 fin.