1. Rob, thanks for helping us out with 2 life-saving things you got from this video.

Posted at 4:25PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Willy Volk

2. "Hopefully, though, divers can use the footage to help protect themselves against similar accidents"

Not to be mean or anything, but what can one learn from a video like this?! All this shows is a diver descending (most likely uncontrollably) to a depth of 91.5 meters, looking at his gauges, and then writhing around in what we could only assume is pain.


There are literally hundreds of things that could have caused this. My bet is a medical condition.

The only real lesson in this video is, DONT LEAVE YOUR BUDDY and Always be prepared to end a dive at a moments notice,.. even if it means an uncontrolled ascent.

It's a shame he died,.. but this video isn't going to help much.

Posted at 5:33PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Rob

3. R.I.P. Yuri Lipski. Rob, honestly, keep your smartass mouth shut next time. This maybe isn't going to help anything out, but your bitching isn't going to do any better.

Posted at 7:40PM on Jan 30th 2007 by chris

4. Interesting to see this.

It was sort of an "urban legend" that he jumped in way overweighted with a camera around his neck and plunged uncontrollably down. Now we can see it was on his head with no way to take it off. He did have lots of places to end his dive, seemed like he bumped along the bottom and went over the edge.

Narced out at 300+fsw, lost his reg, etc. The comments of him being 'entangled in the sand' are silly.

Being with his buddy had nothing to do with it, being overweighted and over-confident did. What would his buddy of done? Follow him down?

Posted at 9:47PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Jack Connick

5. The video is certainly powerful but only because you know what's coming. The commentary is speculative and not helpful. The final second when everything becomes finally quiet is overwhelming.

I wish that somebody used this as the core of a more professional training video, where other known elements are woven into the narrative: Diver's background, equipment, dive plan, deviations from the plan, real calculations of the rate of descent, rescue efforts and what they found. Was he really entangled?? Did he drown? Was he in fact overweighted? Any equipment failures? What did the computer log show? A few time and depth charts would show when he lost his regulator, how fast he descended, etc. Interviews with his buddy might help.

This could be turned into a good training film; who knows, it might save a live or two and give some sense to Yuri's death.

Posted at 5:27AM on Jan 31st 2007 by Freddy Hill

6. I find the video difficult to follow (and poor Yuri should not be faulted for this!) But there is the opportunity of a much more informative educational video discussing pre-drive planning, planned dive profile and how and when the dive diverged from the plan.

What other clues were available? was he in fact tangled? Did he try removing this weights or helmet? what was the buddy's analysis of the accident? Did he have air in his tanks? What conclusions did the experts draw from this?

The last moment in which the image freezes is chilling. This recording could be the basis for a dramatic educational documentary, but the way it was done was not very satisfying. I hope somebody tries again.

Posted at 5:27AM on Jan 31st 2007 by Freddy Hill

7. I have a couple comments, partly with info gleaned from other videos posted here recently.

First off, his computer display was said to read ~95msw. The ROV that found him (in another video) was showing ~120msw. Perhaps he did not know his actual depth due to equipment failure.

Incidentally, at 221 feet, he would have reached the PPO2 of 1.6 (assuming a normoxic mix of 20.9% O2). Even using his computer's depth, he exceeded that significantly.

Perhaps his "writhing around in pain" was not so much dealing with entanglement as it was CNS OxTox leading to convulsions.

Now, I am making an assuming that he was breathing air here. But it can't be too far of a stretch. The images of his body's recovery only have one tank. He wasn't diving doubles, nor were there any sling bottles to imply other mixes in play.

Is the outcome any less disturbing? No way.
Was it preventable? Sure. We're all taught to dive within the limits of our training, experience and equipment. Yuri ignored at least one of those.

-kb

Posted at 5:33PM on Jan 31st 2007 by kb

8. I know this diving spot, have made about 20 dives through the archway. My opinion: There is no reason to go down in the middle of the Blue Hole with this speed. Inside at the bottom is nothing but sand.
It could be possible that this is no diving accident, but a planned suicide. Nice way to die: First the heavy nitrogene narcosis (he endet at approx. 100 meters), the next steps you will not feel any more.

Posted at 5:31AM on Mar 1st 2007 by Joe

9. Hey, first off I want to send my condolescences, I just saw the video on Spiked and had to check out to see what others were saying.

First off, I can't beleive that no one has caught this....look back, top left corner 5:10 to 5:15...This is not a typical accident or suicide, it is a shark attack. You clearly see the mouth of the shark bite and hear the crunching. Run through those final moments again.

The 'pecialists' studying the tape? Who are they? How did they not catch this. It is clear in those moments, you can see the shark biting his left side. Although the first time you see it, it may seem dark, go back and watch again, watch top left portion of screen. You will see the dark come in, bite down, hear it, and also see the mouth closing in.

There have been instances of divers being brought to depth by predators...they say he was overweight, however they do not mention his size, nor the amount of weight he was using.

Although I have not watched it enough to be sure of all accounts, a few things are clear.

#1 - Shark bite, 5:10-5:15
#2- Sounds like hose, high pressure maybe, has been bit through at 4:28
#3- Up until his hose is bit through, he is wimpering during depth, as if being pulled into something he did not want (not typical of suicide, he would not be making sounds if it was his intent - the 'help', well it may be when the shark first attacked
#4- Upon depth, possibly the shark let go, obviously disorientated, he is trying to get away. Maybe to hide, figuring the shark would not attack from above. However, as any predator, they come back, which is what it did
#5- tangled in 'sand'...are you kidding???? Upon observation from the video, yes disorientation, but entanglement?

At the very beginning of the video, it showed his buddy, why do we not hear anything from him afterwards? Why do they not interview him. I have no doubt (as I have dived with people who like to go off on their own) that maybe he wanted to check out something deeper, and possibly his buddy did not see the attack. Or maybe he did? Who knows, but if you watch the segment again, you will clearly see this was an attack...nothing else.

Please let me know what you think after viewing this vid. again. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Posted at 10:07AM on Apr 17th 2007 by dive girl

10. I am not so sure that is so much to see down there. It sounded to me, the novice that I am, that his lungs had had it.He did not cry for help as is mooted, it was a gasp ( a bit like a smoker ) It was cloudy,it was cold. Did the combination of those, i.e. lots of dives, the cold, etc. all contribute. ?
What is there to see anyway ?

Posted at 6:51PM on Apr 27th 2007 by Philippa Davis

11. It wasn't a shark attack... they recovered his body and there was no evidence of an attack. Check out this video... much clearer view of him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr5doYH5dXc

Posted at 3:15AM on May 8th 2007 by andy

12. ...have watched video quite a few times before, and was very sceptical about the shark thing. However, have watched the scene from 5:09-5:15 now over and over again, and it indeed looks like a mouth that opens and attempts to bite. If anyone objects, please - what else explains what can be seen in this moment???

The fact that he did not show bite injuries does not exclude that he was attacked and scared by a shark. Maybe thats why he panicked. Anyway, the HELP is not human, thats from his regulator.

Posted at 4:53PM on Jun 28th 2007 by Marty

13. To number 11 comment...that video is not of Yuri. It was said that was a video of another diver's body recovered by Israeli naval forces. They do not mention Yuri in this video once.

Posted at 9:47AM on Aug 25th 2007 by Phillip

14. here you can find more details what and why it happens... http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=-aTYW_Iikk8

Posted at 2:03PM on Aug 27th 2007 by sergi

15. I want to know why the video has been tampered with. At 17:09:17 it stops and skips to 17:09:28. A whole 10 secs is not shown. Then again at 17:09:56 it skips to 17:11:02. A good minute and 6 secs was deleted. How are we supposed to draw all possible conclusions when the whole video is not shown. Just something to think about.

Posted at 4:37PM on Aug 27th 2007 by steve

16. I almost want to say this guy was on a suicide mission. Or had a medical condition but he seemed to be doing nothing to fix the problem. Or narc set in so fast he couldn't do anything and it was inevitable once it set in.

Posted at 7:36AM on Sep 7th 2007 by George

17. To start, I've been diving for 19 years of my life and been a certified Dive Master for 12 of those years with a hell of a lot of bottom time (I do not work in the diving or any dive related industry.).

Suicide mission or not, the most important thing to remember in the sport of Scuba Diving, is NEVER think you are better than the ocean. You NEVER are. Newbie’s to the sport and professional divers are the ones that get hurt the most often, sad but true.

I have watched both vids. Here’s my take:

Shark bite not a chance, take your Peter Benchley inspired fear back to Hollywood.

Calling for "HELP" maybe the best guess, since he was still close enough to his dive buddy to get assistance and sound does travel quite well through water (fyi, talking through a regulator doesn't exactly sound human but you can usually make it out). Maybe he knew something was wrong at that point.

This should remind all divers to NEVER loose track of your buddy, including you Jack Connick (posted above, if you've ever dived a day in your life). His buddy could have swum down to him and tried to get his weight belt off or cut free some of the heavy gear and batteries to make him lighter. At the very least his buddy would see Yuri dropping like a rock and could have gone to get help from the surface. I'm not blaming his buddy, but they were obviously not a "team" when they agreed to go diving together.

As for the rest of it.....well I think it's an unfortunate "perfect storm" of: bad judgment, narc-ed, possible ear/sinus damage from not being able to equalize, equip tangle and at the end disoriented from kicking up sand (I think that is what they meant with the "tangled in sand" comment - give these guys a break with the translation, they got the effect right).

It too bad for Yuri, sorry to his family.

Diving is an incredibly safe sport if you follow the rules, but the moment you step over the safety guidelines you can get into serious trouble very fast.

Keep having fun under the great blue sea and dive safe.

Cheers

Posted at 1:28PM on Sep 18th 2007 by C. M. IV

18. I keep hearing people complaining about how getting entangled in the sand is impossible. I would think that something is being lost in translation. Maybe the translation for entangled and disoriented is the same. Just a thought, I'm no expert on Egyption translations.

Posted at 11:33PM on Dec 19th 2007 by Mark

19. If you take a close look at the top left of the screen between 5:12 and 5:15 you see an individual with a mask on, diving towards the camera and then moving out to the left. Perhaps he no longer had the camera on his head.

Posted at 3:01PM on Dec 21st 2007 by thebrokenmany

20. okay so im not saying it was a shark but like some guy said above he wouldent have panicked if it was a suicidal mission.want my opinion ? he was pulled to the bottom by something. attack or not, posioden didnt kill him. . posted January third 2008 thursday 5:38 pm

Posted at 6:46PM on Jan 3rd 2008 by trrifid