Diving operations at the plane crash site in Masbate were temporarily aborted when one of the technical divers met an accident at sea.
DZMM’s Edwin Sevidal reported that a German diver came out of the sea foaming at the mouth.
“Isang technical diver, naka-stretcher, bumubula ang bibig. Mabilis siyang isinakay sa ambulansya,” said Sevidal.
The diver was identified as Danny Brumbach.
Sevidal said Brumbach was conscious when he was placed into a rubber boat. The diver was part of a German team who volunteered to help in the retrieval operations for Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and 2 others.
"My concern is my divers under water, they're still decompressing... so we immediately aborted the diving operations. Aborted muna because we have to take care of the divers muna to make sure that my divers are okay,” said Capt. Rommel Galang of the Philippine Navy.
The diver was initially brought to the hospital only to be taken back to the command outpost as he needed to undergo a decompression procedure.
Brumbach was taken to a ship of the Philippine Coast Guard where a decompression chamber is available.
"Ibinalik s'ya because nobody was aware of what really happened, so the immediate reaction is to bring him to the hospital,” explained Maj. Gen. Eduardo del Rosario, head of Task Force Kalihim, which supervises the retrieval operations.
Brumbach is an open water scuba instructor based in Bohol.
He is a member of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). The search teams recovered on Tuesday morning Robredo from the crash site. The bodies of Capt. Jessup Bahinting and his Nepalese co-pilot, Capt. Kshitiz Chand, have yet to be retrieved.
Authorities earlier said they will already be using a remotely-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) since divers will need to rest.
source: abs-cbnnews.com
