The estate of a 40-year-old man who drowned on
a Puget Sound dive trip in 2011 has sued the groups
that led the trip for wrongful death. "Robert Vance was
clearly distressed, exhausted, light-headed and was
struggling to stay afloat," the lawsuit, filed last month in
Washington State, asserts. It contends that Steve's Scuba
Center in Milwaukie, OR, Bandito Charters in Tacoma,
WA, and the training agency SSI were negligent in their
supervision of the dive trip on which Vance died.
Vance and several other student divers were aboard
the Sampan, operated by Bandito Charters, when it left
Gig Harbor, WA, on the morning of November 19, 2011.
He had made 23 dives before that trip, but was making
his first coldwater boat dive that day. The lawsuit
contends that Steve's Scuba Center provided Vance with
two air tanks, both of which contained toxic levels of
carbon monoxide. When he entered the water alone just before 10 a.m., Vance almost immediately began experiencing
equipment problems, including loose fins and
trouble with his regulator.
Instead of helping him out of the water, dive instructors
and deckhands shouted instructions. Vance then
passed out and sank to 52 feet. It took between five and
10 minutes to rescue him. He was brought to the surface
and CPR was performed until the boat reached the
dock, then Vance was transported to Tacoma General
Hospital, where he remained unconscious until he was
pronounced dead at approximately 5:40 p.m. that day.
While the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office
ruled Vance's death an accident, the suit claims the
"Defendants failed to read and react to Mr. Vance's
panic and thereby properly respond and rescue him in
accordance with industry custom, practice and applicable
standards, and, in doing so, failed to preclude his
injury and death." The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages
for Vance's estate; he left behind a 19-year-old son.