Lt. Jessica Hill
Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque
Posted on 08/18/2006 5:00:16 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
TWO COAST GUARD MEMBERS PERISH IN DIVE OPERATION
| COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. - Two Coast Guard divers assigned to the Seattle-based Coast Guard Cutter Healy died Thursday afternoon during a routine dive operation in the Arctic Ocean approximately 500 miles north of Barrow, Alaska. Deceased are Lt. Jessica Hill, 30, of St. Augustine, Fla., and Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque, 26, of Miami.
The victim's next of kin have been notified and additional support services are being provided to each family, as well as Healy crewmembers.
"I felt a deep sense of loss when I received the initial report on this situation," said Vice Adm. Charles D. Wurster, Commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area, adding, "I offer my prayers to the families and friends of Lieutenant Hill and Petty Officer Duque in their time of grieving."
Healy was engaged in a science mission when the accident occurred. The dive was intended to be a cold-water familiarization dive near the bow of the ship, a routine activity when the ship is operating in Arctic ice. During this type of dive, the ship sits idle and hazardous pumps and propellers are disengaged.
The cause of this dive accident is under investigation.
"The Coast Guard will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause of this accident," Wurster said.
The 420-foot Healy is one of three polar ice breakers operated by the Coast Guard. Healy is primarily used for Arctic science operations under sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
More information about Healy can be found by visiting http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/healy/. |
Condolences to families and friends of Jessica Hill and Steven Duque.
MY GAWD!! Did someone not tagout the bow thruster???
"MY GAWD!! Did someone not tagout the bow thruster???"
The cause of this dive accident is under investigation.
Prayers for the families.
Sad. What happened?
RIP
Lt. Jessica Hill
Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque
Prayers up.
(My brother was in 'Lima 47' way back in the day...)
Prayers for them and their families.
"Sad. What happened?"
The cause of this dive accident is under investigation.
Prayers for their families.
Two of America's finest.
Lt. Jessica Hill
Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque
May God Bless them and their families.
Condolences to the families of these to brave Coastguard members.
God bless them.
There's a contradiction in terms.
Did you see the item about the guy in Florida that died tagging sea turtles? The first news said he was attacked by the sea turtle, but more complete reports said he went down, and never came up. Later they found his body with no marks of trauma. The surmise was that he succumbed to "Shallow Water Blackout", a physiological condition, almost always fatal, brought on by surfacing from a prolonged free dive.
So make the contradiction, "... a routine dive operation ..."
Lt. Jessica Hill is on the left. R.I.P.
God bless these brave Coasties and their families.
-ccm
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