Coroner's Finding: JY
Deceased
JY
Demographics
34y, male
Date of death
2022-03-13
Finding date
2024-04-17
Cause of death
drowning
AI-generated summary
A 34-year-old man died by drowning while scuba diving alone after consuming approximately half a bottle of vodka. He dived without a buddy, wore no wetsuit, and was heavily weighed down by an oversized catch bag of abalone and his weight belt. The boat operators lost sight of him. His blood alcohol level was 0.250 g/100ml. Key preventable factors included solo diving, intoxication impairing decision-making and air management, negative buoyancy preventing ascent, boat operators not maintaining visual contact, and failure to use appropriate safety equipment. The death was entirely preventable through adherence to basic scuba diving safety protocols including buddy diving, sobriety, appropriate weighting, and proper boat supervision.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- diving alone without a buddy
- boat operators lost sight of diver and moved away from diving location
- highly elevated blood alcohol concentration (0.250 g/100ml)
- state of negative buoyancy due to heavy catch bag exceeding legal limits and weight belt
- failure to unclip weight belt and catch bag
- failure to wear wetsuit
- obesity
- likely neglected to monitor air supply
- failed to surface when required
- poor decision-making and disorientation from intoxication
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