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12-year-old's scuba death was preventable: Expert
The death of a 12-year-old Rockwall girl in a scuba class is raising the debate about instructor-to-student ratios. Friday, FOX 4 spoke with an expert from Florida who trains scuba instructors about the topic.
ROCKWALL, Texas - The death of a 12-year-old Rockwall girl in a scuba class is raising the debate about instructor-to-student ratios.
Friday, FOX 4 spoke with an expert from Florida who trains scuba instructors about the topic.
Scuba expert speaks on class risks
Ross Neil
Video is surfacing for the first time of 12-year-old Dylan Harrison getting into the lake at the Scuba Ranch in Terrell.
Dylan wanted to get her scuba certificate, just like her dad and grandfather had.
According to guidelines set by training certification agencies, eight students to an instructor is the max allowed. If there is an additional dive master, there can be a max of 10 students.
Dylan's class was within that range with eight students, an instructor and a dive master.
Scuba expert who witnessed NTX 12-year-old's death questions ongoing investigation
The witness, who own another North Texas scuba facility, has tried to share his concerns about the drowning with the agency who's handling the investigation. He says they've avoided hearing his story.
What they're saying:
Ross Neil, based in Key Largo, Florida, instructs scuba trainers. He says numerous factors in Dylan's training could have contributed to her tragic end.
"A 12-year-old can absolutely dive. A 10-year-old can absolutely dive," said Neil. "But you have to set it up so that they can succeed.
"Maxing out your ratios is not a way to succeed. Those ratios are there for blue water, when you can see," Neil continued.
Poor visibility
Aug. 16 was the day of Dylan's open water certification class. According to multiple witnesses, the visibility at the Scuba Ranch was poor that day — about the length of your arm in front of you.
Neil began his career teaching in low visibility water.
"You need to be able to account for every student that's underwater. You need to be able to see them," Neil said.
Risky partner pairing
Mitchell and Heather Harrison thought their daughter would be paired up with the dive master.
Instead, she ended up being paired up with a 12-year-old boy.
Dylan Harrison preparing to dive
"In a scuba course, what we're trying to do is teach people how, first of all, to stop, think, breathe. Take time, fix the problem," Neil said.
"Putting two new decision makers together may not be the best idea," Neil said.
"If I have two, specifically two 12-year-olds, I'm going to be looking at lowering my ratio again, because that's a lot of variables," Neil said.
Crucial evidence 'lost' in scuba death investigation of North Texas 12-year-old, lawyer says
A Rockwall family is seeking answers and accountability after the death of their 12-year-old daughter during a scuba class, citing a failure by law enforcement to secure and analyze crucial evidence, including "lost" dive computer data.
High number of variables
How many variables an instructor can manage has been a debate since 2013, when 12-year-old David Tuvell died in a lake in Utah.
And the debate was renewed in 2020 when 18-year-old Linnea Mills sank to the bottom of 500-foot lake after being over-weighted.
Her instructor had no idea she was missing.
Attorney David Concannon, who is now assisting the Harrison's, was involved in both of those cases.
Scuba trainee lost in class
According to witness statements given to the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office, Dylan was lost. Neil says losing a student in a scuba instruction class is unthinkable.
"It absolutely breaks my heart, because everything that we train for, everything that we teach for, is to mitigate problems," Neil said.
FOX 4 reached out to both the Scuba Ranch and Scuba Toys, who ran Dylan's certification class.
They say they cannot comment due to the active investigation.
The Scuba Ranch statement
Further Update:
Statement from The Scuba Ranch:
"We are heartbroken by the recent tragic loss of a young life at our lake. Our deepest sympathy and prayers are with her family and friends, during this unimaginably difficult time.
The Scuba Ranch exists to provide a safe and accessible freshwater environment for qualified Dive Instructors to conduct their training. The Scuba Ranch does not employ Dive Instructors, and does not provide, direct, or supervise instruction received. All Dive Instructors are independent of The Scuba Ranch and not affiliated with us other than as a customer. We do require that all instructors using our facilities follow recognized scuba safety standards outlined by their credentialing agency, as well as professional judgement, to train students safely.
Immediately after this event occurred, out of an abundance of caution, we permanently suspended the instructor (Armstrong) from teaching at our facility. Scuba Toys was also suspended from training pending the results of this investigation. This step was taken solely to ensure that safety remains the top priority for divers while at The Scuba Ranch.
This tragedy has deeply affected the entire dive community, and we will continue to support those impacted as best we can. We, along with all of you, are awaiting the facts and details to be released with complete transparency so that we may learn from what happened.The Scuba Ranch has and continues to be fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation and remains committed to supporting all efforts to understand what happened. We pray this family receives the answers, justice, and closure they deserve, and that all of the dive community would be strengthened through what we learn from this tragedy."
The Source: Information in this article came from a FOX 4 interview with a scuba instruction expert.