“The number of water-related deaths in Cayman this year has already exceeded the annual average, with only half the year gone,” stated Cayman Island News in an article titled “Ocean claims another diver” posted on July 12, 2013.
It further specifies that one victim died in swimming pool, one fell overboard and one competitive swimmer died during swimming in ocean. The remaining seven were attributed to snorkeling and scuba diving. As the title suggested, this seemed mostly to be scuba divers.
We checked DAN database and found 20 scuba fatalities in Caymans during the last five years, or an average four per year. For 2013 we found only two scuba fatalities. However, there were other fatalities in water-related activities.
The findings reflect general pattern of water activity related deaths.
- Drowning in a swimming pool most often affects children as in this case.
- Falling overboard from the cruiser happens most frequently to young males.
- Competition-related deaths generally occur in younger athletes, while death during leisurely activities in water regardless whether it is beach going, surface snorkeling or scuba diving occur mainly in older people. Average age in this series was 69.5 years old and all victims in this sample were male.
Only in two cases was a possible trigger identified: one swimmer succumbed in rough waters and one snorkeler had pulmonary fibrosis that may have contributed to his demise. In all seven cases the death occurred swiftly and fits the definition of sudden cardiac death, which is most often caused by heart disease. In some cases victims may have been diagnosed with cardiac disease previously and in other they felt pretty healthy until their death. Most sudden deaths occur in people with moderate atherosclerotic changes that do not cause any symptoms and may not be detected on annual medical exam, thus call for more strict medical criteria for scuba divers seem unjustified. Besides, neither snorkeling nor beach going requires any certifications or medical approval. With older population staying longer active, it is unavoidable that some deaths occur in public, most of them unrelated to the specific activity. One could not speculate whether any of these seven deaths could have been prevented without unnecessarily denying older people right to enjoy active life.