On Saturday, 5 November 1983, at 4:00 a.m., while drilling in the Frigg gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, four divers were in a diving chamber system on the rig’s deck that was connected by a trunk (a short passage) to a diving bell. The divers were Edwin Arthur Coward (British, 35), Roy P. Lucas (British, 38), Bjørn Giæver Bergersen (Norwegian, 29) and Truls Hellevik (Norwegian, 34). They were assisted by two dive tenders, William Crammond (British, 32) and Martin Saunders.[6]
At the time of the accident, decompression chambers 1 and 2 (along with a third chamber which was not in use at the time) were connected via a trunk to a diving bell. The connection made by the trunk was kept sealed by a clamp operated by Crammond and Saunders, who were experienced divers. Coward and Lucas were resting in chamber 2 at a pressure of 9 atmospheres (atm). The diving bell with Bergersen and Hellevik had just been winched up after a dive and joined to the trunk. Leaving their wet equipment in the trunk, the two divers climbed through the trunk into chamber 1.[6]
The normal procedure would have been:
>Close the diving bell door, which would have been open to the trunk.
>Slightly increase the pressure in the diving bell to seal the bell door tightly.
>Close the chamber 1 door, which was also open to the trunk.
>Slowly depressurize the trunk until it reached a pressure of 1 atm.
Open the clamp to separate the diving bell from the chamber system.
The first two steps had been completed when a mechanical failure caused the clamp that was keeping the trunk sealed to open before Hellevik (diver 4) had closed the door to the chamber. This resulted in both chambers being rapidly depressurized from 9 atmospheres to the ambient external pressure of 1 atm. Air rushed out of the chamber system with tremendous force, jamming the interior trunk door and pushing the bell away, striking the two tenders. All four divers were killed; one of the tenders, Crammond, was killed, while Saunders was severely injured.[6]: 94 [9]
pepsicoketasty on
The hole though which the bodies were extruded like pasta was only 5 inches..
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin
On Saturday, 5 November 1983, at 4:00 a.m., while drilling in the Frigg gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, four divers were in a diving chamber system on the rig’s deck that was connected by a trunk (a short passage) to a diving bell. The divers were Edwin Arthur Coward (British, 35), Roy P. Lucas (British, 38), Bjørn Giæver Bergersen (Norwegian, 29) and Truls Hellevik (Norwegian, 34). They were assisted by two dive tenders, William Crammond (British, 32) and Martin Saunders.[6]
At the time of the accident, decompression chambers 1 and 2 (along with a third chamber which was not in use at the time) were connected via a trunk to a diving bell. The connection made by the trunk was kept sealed by a clamp operated by Crammond and Saunders, who were experienced divers. Coward and Lucas were resting in chamber 2 at a pressure of 9 atmospheres (atm). The diving bell with Bergersen and Hellevik had just been winched up after a dive and joined to the trunk. Leaving their wet equipment in the trunk, the two divers climbed through the trunk into chamber 1.[6]
The normal procedure would have been:
>Close the diving bell door, which would have been open to the trunk.
>Slightly increase the pressure in the diving bell to seal the bell door tightly.
>Close the chamber 1 door, which was also open to the trunk.
>Slowly depressurize the trunk until it reached a pressure of 1 atm.
Open the clamp to separate the diving bell from the chamber system.
The first two steps had been completed when a mechanical failure caused the clamp that was keeping the trunk sealed to open before Hellevik (diver 4) had closed the door to the chamber. This resulted in both chambers being rapidly depressurized from 9 atmospheres to the ambient external pressure of 1 atm. Air rushed out of the chamber system with tremendous force, jamming the interior trunk door and pushing the bell away, striking the two tenders. All four divers were killed; one of the tenders, Crammond, was killed, while Saunders was severely injured.[6]: 94 [9]
The hole though which the bodies were extruded like pasta was only 5 inches..