The Editor says: Every summer as dive season kicks off, tragic incidents at sea are never far from the headlines. In truth, most accidents are the result of a chain of errors — which is why building a solid understanding of dive risk management in everyday practice is so important. This article is reproduced in full from the invaluable insights of Zhuichisha John Goh, administrator of the 国际潜水爱好者聚集群.
There has recently been an incident in which a diver panicked underwater and drowned. Regardless of where it happened, which dive shop was involved, or who bears responsibility — what's done is done. What matters now is: could it happen again? Panic is an uncontrollable surge of anxiety and fear, typically accompanied by impaired judgment, irrational thinking and actions, and a complete loss of composure.
Even experienced divers can find themselves in this situation. There are many possible triggers: unfamiliar equipment, forgotten gear, poor weather conditions, diving in a brand-new location, or losing sight of your dive buddy underwater. (Definition of panic adapted from https://m.sohu.com/n/455437313/?wscrid=32576_1)
Common reasons why divers panic underwater:
1) Getting separated:
Every dive briefing covers this: if you get separated, spend one minute searching 360° at depth for your buddy. If you can't find them, ascend safely. A safe ascent means rising no faster than 18 m per minute, performing a safety stop if needed, checking that no boats are approaching the surface, inflating your BCD upon surfacing, deploying your surface marker buoy (SMB), and waiting for the boat to collect you. As my Open Water Diver instructor once said: as long as you can still breathe, it's not the end of the world.
2) Psychological factors:
If you experience panic attacks in daily life, you genuinely need a doctor's clearance before diving again. Otherwise, your condition may draw on the resources of your dive guide or instructor, and indirectly put the other divers in your group at risk.
3) Equipment malfunction:
Gear failures underwater are relatively uncommon, and the response procedures for most equipment problems are already covered during Open Water Diver (PADI/SSI cert) training. I've mentioned more than once: once you've settled into your 3-minute safety stop at 5 m, use that idle time to review OW skills with your dive buddy. Repetition never hurts.
4) Unfamiliar dive sites:
We naturally fear the unknown — especially when it comes to visibility, depth, downwellings, washing-machine currents, and sheer walls. Newer divers already feel overwhelmed just managing themselves underwater; piling on unfamiliar conditions can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Hiring a local dive guide will help you complete the dive more safely and enjoyably.
5) Sea conditions:
In short: visibility, water temperature, waves, and current. You don't even need conditions to turn suddenly rough — in an ordinary current, if you're simultaneously fighting ear equalization, desperately clamping your mask to keep out every drop of water, and wishing you had a third hand to hold onto your second stage regulator, getting separated becomes entirely plausible. As I often say, diving requires letting go — letting go of money and time to make diving happen. The highest level is knowing when to let go of a dive entirely when you're unwell or conditions are poor.
6) Exceeding your own limits:
If you rarely exercise and aren't comfortable in the water, not even the most expensive fins will help you kick efficiently. Watching everyone else drift further away while the visibility drops, alone and increasingly frightened — that fear is often where panic begins. Think of it like an insurance policy: push past the limits of coverage and your claim is void.
7) Inability to equalize:
Water pressure affects eardrums differently from person to person. Some people equalize naturally without pinching their nose; others can pinch and blow for ages with no result. I've seen divers shoot for the surface because of ear pain — pain so severe they completely forgot what should matter most. If you know you have sinusitis or a cold, do not dive.
8) Marine life encounters:
I myself have been stung by a bluespotted ray, and sandy seabeds still give me a certain wariness. You don't need to encounter a large, aggressive predator for panic to set in — I've had a student panic because too many damselfish were swarming around her: she has trypophobia. Before every planned dive, communicate openly and avoid sites that might trigger a panic response for anyone in the group.
9) Entanglement:
Abandoned ghost nets, kelp and other marine growth, even your own SMB line can wrap around a diver. The more you struggle in panic, the tighter the entanglement becomes. Without a cutting tool on your person, panic is almost inevitable. Always dive with a dive knife, and make sure it's mounted somewhere both hands can reach.
10) Running out of compressed air:
The last thing any diver wants is to have nothing left to breathe. How do you prevent it? Check your pressure gauge (SPG) regularly — it's that simple. Beyond that, maintain a parallel distance of 2–3 m from your dive buddy at all times; if either of you runs low, your buddy's octopus / alternate second stage is right there. If you're alone with no air and no one nearby, panic is almost a certainty.
How do you avoid panic? Until you're confident diving independently, stay with an instructor, hire a private dive guide, or pair up with a reliable dive buddy. Work to build your skills as quickly as possible so you can handle typical dive situations on your own — when you know how to look after yourself underwater, panic is far less likely to take hold. The vast majority of divers dive safely; if that weren't the case, why would scuba diving remain so wildly popular around the world? Alternatively, take a page from my wife's book — her famous line: "Why did I even marry a dive instructor?" (Dive instructors everywhere should be thanking me for negotiating this particular perk.)
When we examine the causes of dive tragedies, most can be traced back to one or more of the 10 reasons above. Knowing the causes means we can apply risk management from the source. For example: if you haven't dived in a long time and are rekindling your passion, shouldn't you find a qualified instructor for a skills refresher first? To reduce the risk of ghost net entanglement, shouldn't you study local hydrography and fishing activity when planning the dive — and make sure you're carrying at least two cutting tools?
When you encounter a panicking diver, the buddy system — so often overlooked — becomes a lifeline.
In daily life, we extend trust cautiously; handing someone else complete responsibility for our safety doesn't come naturally. But underwater, your dive buddy is your alternate air source. Even a total stranger: if you draw the "out of air" signal across your throat in front of them, would they really ignore you? A dive buddy is a diver who stays parallel to you, 2–3 m away. In practice, many people fail to maintain this.
Even among the closest family members, there's usually one who swims a little faster, one who darts ahead, or one who has a camera while the other doesn't. I've said it before: the most disciplined dive buddy I've ever had underwater was my elder sister — no matter which way I turned, she was always to my right. Thank goodness for that, because she once grabbed the second stage regulator right out of my mouth when I needed it.
In many situations, your dive instructor is your dive buddy. For someone anxious about water, having another person hold your hands tightly underwater is an extraordinary comfort — which is perhaps why some female students have ended up in romantic relationships with their instructors. I often joke that the dive instructor profession comes with an official mandate to hold students' hands underwater. But if that's your reason for pursuing an instructor certification, ask yourself: when a male student needs the same reassurance, will you step up? That's why I rarely let students grab onto me — I usually hold onto their first stage regulator or BCD instead.
That said, having a reliable dive buddy doesn't mean you can disengage from your own safety. After all, diving carries inherent risks. Prepare all your own gear yourself, including a surface marker buoy (SMB) for self-rescue, a Flash Light, an underwater/surface audible signaling device, a signal mirror, a dive knife, and a laser pointer. Keep yourself physically conditioned — being able to swim at least 1 km at the surface is a baseline reserve capacity for when things don't go to plan.
Practising and being confident in all your self-rescue skills is a responsible attitude toward both yourself and your dive buddy. If my recommendations sound demanding, just remember: when something goes wrong, you may find that all your preparation still isn't quite enough.
Hero image credit: Photo by Tom Bixler on Unsplash
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