It’s rare for a diver to die because
of bad air, but on July 4th,
after renting a tank at the Scuba
Quest dive shop in Key Largo,
Garry Tuomey succumbed to
carbon monoxide poisoning.
A woman diving with
Tuomey became ill but recovered.
Tuomey, 42, of Indian
Shores, Florida, was found lying
on the bottom, his regulator out
of his mouth. He drowned after
becoming incapacitated by a 32
percent level of carbon monoxide
in his bloodstream.
When we first reported this
story in the September 1997
issue, the cause had not been
determined. Scuba Quest’s
regional manager claimed he
had no clue as to how it could
have happened. However, an
investigation by local authorities
has revealed new evidence.
According to detectives, the
filtration system on Scuba
Quest’s Bauer compressor blew
apart on July 1 when an air-flow
sensor failed. The force of the
explosion damaged the ceiling.
Carbon ignited inside the
compressor’s filter, which then
burned through the top and
failed under pressure. Sheriff’s
detective Tim Pupke said Bauer,
the compressor manufacturer,
instructed the dive shop to clear
the entire compressor system of
air, including the air lines and
the banks of stored air.
“From my understanding,
they purged the lines by using
more air,’’ the detective said.
“But they were told to run a kind
of solution through the lines
and tanks to clear any deposits
that might be there. I don’t
believe that was done.”
When the tanks Tuomey and
his friends rented were filled, it
was with air that had been
contaminated by the explosion.
Another contaminated tank was
discovered by a man who bought
it new, already filled, July 16 at
the dive shop. He told investigators
he became ill after using it
briefly in his backyard pool.
Apparently, Scuba Quest continued
to use the compressor for
several more weeks, then replaced
it with a new one in
August.
The medical examiner ruled
Tuomey’s death accidental, and
the investigation was closed
because no state laws were
violated. Nonetheless, Tuomey’s
family is suing Scuba Quest and
Bauer Compressor.
John B. Kralovec, the Chicago
attorney representing the Tuomeys,
said the case is clear-cut. “It
shouldn’t have happened. It was
wrong,” he said.
The suit charges that the
compressor malfunctioned on
July 1 and was purportedly
repaired by a Bauer service
technician, who left instructions
for Scuba Quest on how to
complete the repair. Scuba
Quest should have been more
diligent, the suit says, and Bauer
should have warned employees
of Scuba Quest that further
cleaning was necessary before
use to ensure that the air used to
fill the tanks was safe.