Six Indian divers who had been installing oil pipelines were trapped today after their support ship sank. They are in a decompression chamber, which has a 72-hour supply of oxygen [sic]. (Oxygen can become toxic at depth, but I’ve never done that sort of diving. I’ve only used air, and deeper divers use a mixture of helium and oxygen.) The decompression chamber was on the ship when it sank, and the divers were inside.
Man, thats bad.
Fortunately, they are shallow enough that even high end recreational scuba divers can/could get to them so they do have a chance. Shallower would be better, but much deeper and they would likely be screwed for sure. Hope things turn out well. I wonder if the US Navy is in a position to come to the rescue here. Good publicity is always a good thing (as well as being a good samaritian of course).
If they didn’t suffer from claustrophobia before…
It could be worse, but yeah. It’s pretty bad. I wonder if there are any rescue assets in the area? No doubt there are other underwater workers in the region, and they might be able to rig a harness to haul the chamber up. But it’s probably not something they train for. What if the ship broke apart and the chamber is fouled? Or worse, what if the ship rolled over? How is the chamber attached to the ship, anyway? Welded? Bolted? Chewing gum?
I hope they can get those guys up alive.