By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - In the coming days and weeks I’m going to be looking harder at the SCUBA diving accident which killed Edgar Kinkead near Drake’s Island off the coast of Portobelo. Every time a tragedy like this occurs, I try to learn as much as possible about what went wrong in order to both warn everyone else about potential dangers and pitfalls so that we all can learn from the mistakes of others. It’s really the only way to turn an event like this around, and to try to make things safer for those who will come later. In my earlier reporting I identified the victim, Edgar Kinkead as an American citizen. I now understand he was a Panamanian who was working for the MAERSK shipping company in South Africa. (more)

Nationality Doesn’t Really Matter All That Much: In effect, I concentrate on events and stories involving members of the English speaking expatriate community in Panama, and this story caught my attention because (for whatever reason) I originally understood the victim was an American citizen. In the end, his nationality simply does not matter all that much to me, but we can still learn from his untimely accidental death and the elements and circumstances surrounding this incident.

SCUBA Diving Is A Dangerous Undertaking: There are all kinds of ways to get seriously hurt or killed when SCUBA diving. However, a well trained diver who strictly follows safe diving practices can experience literally thousands of dives with no problems or complications whatsoever. SCUBA diving is a somewhat “matured” sport for recreational divers. That is to say, recreational divers can greatly reduce their risk simply by choosing to dive in relatively low-risk conditions and situations. Of course there are lots of higher-risk diving situations involving extreme or inherently more dangerous situations, such “technical” or deep water diving, working underwater for ship repair or salvage, cave diving, night diving, wreck diving, diving under ice or in exceptionally cold water, or rescue diving in extreme weather conditions. Anyone who has ever taken a breath through a regulator knows you’re doing something innately unnatural for the human body - people simply are not supposed to be able to breathe while underwater (and, that’s a large part of the mystery and joy - simply being able to explore the normally off-limits environment.) So while most people can safely SCUBA dive with no problems, potentially lethal danger is never all that far away.

Getting The Story Right: I’ve been told the driver of the dive boat first could not start the motor, and then the motor fell off. I also understand the driver of the boat was not equipped with either emergency radio equipment, a cell phone, or any way to call for help. Yesterday I was informed the divers were using Scuba Portobelo (Scuba Panama) for their dive, and last night I talked to the owner of Scuba Panama. He wanted to get together to discuss this incident last night face-to-face but I was unavailable and had other important plans with family. Today is Christmas Eve and he’s going to be traveling out of Panama City until after Christmas. When he returns we’re going to sit down and I’m going to get his version of events. Scuba Panama has been in operation for something like 30 years and they have trained literally thousands of divers. What matters most to me is to get the facts of this accident correct from all angles - the truth and the facts of what happened. That’s what I will be writing and publishing.

A Story From An Earlier Time: Back in the 90’s while I was working in Special Forces a good friend of mine went diving near Portobelo and I remembered him telling me about an incident that happened to him. I sent him an email and asked him to retell the details;

• Don,
• I do remember. I was with Lanny Lucero and two other people, although I don’t remember who they were (more than likely they were people we met at the dive shop who we shared a boat with). We were diving on the back side of two islands out by Portobelo called the Twin Sisters (if my memory servers me correctly). The current ran along behind the islands and then out to sea.
• When we left the boat we had chosen to pursue a route between the island and the beach and we briefed the coxmen of the intended route. As we pursued the route we eventually had turned the corner around the island as we had briefed and when we surface the boat was not in sight. We were now on the open sea side of the islands where the current and waves were much stronger. We were driven seaward, so we decided not to fight the current and to swim perpendicular to the current in a effort to reach the closest island. Upon arriving at the island we were beaten upon the rocks by the waves.
• After fighting the waves we climbed upon the rocks and I took a whistle from my BC and made my way around the island to where we had left the boat. After many minutes whistling I final attracted the attention of the coxmen who had decided to take a nap. Had he followed our route as he was briefed he would have been in place to easily observe us when we surfaced.
• We complained to the owner of the dive shop and it seems some kind of action was taken against the coxmen although I don’t remember if he was fired or not.
• It’s good to keep in touch with you, Don. I Hope Panama is treating you well.
• Karl

Taking A Friggin’ Nap? Karl tells the story much more calmly now. I remember hearing it on a Monday morning, the first day he was in the office after the incident, and at that time he was made enough to shoot someone in the face - simply furious. Luckily Karl and Lanny were highly trained and in good physical condition, and they were able to extract themselves from the situation even though the boat driver was “taking a nap” literally.

More To Come: I will have more to report on this accident in the coming days and weeks. One of the things I want to do is determine the current standards within Panama for professional diving operations. I get the feeling all of these guys are going to be somewhat self-enforcing with little or no inspection or oversight from the Panamanian government. I mean - what certifications are required and how often are they checked out? What government organization has oversight or inspection authority (if any)? How often are inspections conducted (if at all)? So, there’s still a lot I’ve got to learn. More to follow, I’m not done yet…

Copyright 2008 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

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