OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221707300
WILD ALASKA SHELLFISH COMPANY
KETCHIKAN, AK—
Event description
Employee drowns while diving for shellfish
Investigation abstract
At 3:18 p.m. on October 2, 2024, Employee #1, employed as a shellfish fishing any sign of movement, they began bringing him in. Once on the boat, it was determined that his diving mask had been ripped off, and sand and dirt were inside the mask. The cause of death was determined to be drowning due to ocean water, tide, and current conditions. diver near Sisters Island, was diving for Geoducks in an area experiencing strong tides and rough seas. After starting his second dive of the day, Employee #1 radioed the tender aboard the vessel to request to be brought back in. Shortly after, he radioed the tender to stop bringing him in. At the same time, the captain of the vessel, who was also diving, requested to be brought in. The tender cleated Employee #1 off to the boat and began assisting the captain. Once the captain was aboard the vessel, both the captain and the tender saw Employee #1 emerge at the surface and then resubmerge. When the victim re-emerged without
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 39 M
- Event type
- 14
- Occupation code
- 497
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.