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Diver dies after failing to breathe out on his ascent
A Royal Navy diver died in a routine training exercise after suffering a ruptured lung, an inquest heard.
A jury at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard Able Seaman Christopher Johnstone, 42, died on June 24 last year after an evening training session at the navy's dive centre at Horsea Lake, Port Solent.
AB Johnstone, from Cheshire, referred to as Johno in court, was taking part in a casualty recovery drill with diving partner Paul Tudor.
He had passed all the relevant examinations and medical tests before he was accepted on to the Royal Navy Reserve in September 2007.
After successfully taking part in the mock rescue exercise, which involved diving to the bottom of the six-metre- deep seabed twice, the pair returned to the surface after roughly three minutes.
Bobbing on the surface, Ab Johnstone asked supervisor Michael Openshaw if he could take off his mask and adjust it because it felt uncomfortable. Minutes later, he stopped breathing.
Mr Openshaw told the inquest: 'He started to convulse, his arms dropped down at the side of him quite hard. He stopped moving completely.'
Previously, Mr Tudor told the court: 'His arms went down and he started to twitch. He had gone rigid and his eyes were dilated.'
Colleagues tried to revive AB Johnstone on the jetty at Horsea Lake while an ambulance was called.
He was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, where he was pronounced dead an hour later at 8.42pm.
Tests showed minor faults in the equipment used but they are not considered to have been significant enough to have contributed to the incident.
Basic pre-dive checks were carried out to ensure that the equipment was working and divers were all reminded about the basic diving rules and breathing techniques before getting in the water.
Dr Ian Colder, a pathologist who specialises in diving accidents, said the immediate cause of death was a rupture in the lungs, due to failure to breathe out on the ascend to the surface.
'He perhaps didn't breathe the gas out at the time. That's the only possible explanation,' he said.
(Proceeding)
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Friday 10 February 2012
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