Dive Ladder Severs Fingers: Undercurrent 03/2024

Dive Ladder Severs Fingers

from the March, 2024 issue of Undercurrent

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Dear Ben,

I recently had the end of one of my fingers severed by a folding ladder that freakishly caught my finger in the space between the rung and metal attachment piece while on a snorkeling tour in a lagoon on Moorea in Tahiti. It's very painful and actually disables you mostly because of the nerve damage; I'm unable to bend the finger down as it feels the knuckle will break for some reason.

My friend said the ladder pinched her finger and it hurt but fortunately it didn't catch it how it caught mine. It sounds like the same scenario; I was getting into the water facing outward when I my arm was pulled up after I jumped off and it turned me a bit and I felt a tug on my finger tip. It was weird so I looked at it to make sure it wasn't cut or something and what I saw was the tiny bone of my finger sticking clean up. The only thing that could have caught it was a small space between ladder rung and attachment. When I jumped in the water, the swell must have brought the ladder up, putting my finger in the way as my hand was a little behind me when I let go as I was jumping in. It's the only thing around that had a space small or big enough to somehow catch my finger in....

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