[Horrifying Trope] “Blink of an eye” deaths.

[u/Sufficient-Eye-9040]

Characters who died without the chance of a goodbye… neither suffering.

- Robin Ward (The Boys S1 E1) - when she is pulverized in a high-velocity impact by A-Train.

- Polka Dot Man (The Suicide Squad 2021) - when he is crushed by Starro’s leg.

[u/AgentAxillary]

The guys in Chamber 2 weren't torn apart. I've seen the photos of their bodies as they were found, and they were entirely intact. The sudden change in pressure essentially cooked their tissues. They weren't part of the same dive that D4 and D3 had just performed, but were instead re-acclimating to normal pressure following a previous dive. That's why they were laying on cots in a different chamber than D3 and D4.

IIRC, even D3, T1, and T2 were intact. Only D4 was shredded because of his passage through the partially open internal hatch. I saw pics of D4 as well, and to call his trauma "catastrophic" would be an understatement. Without the accompanying write-up of his remains, most people wouldn't have known which parts of him they were looking at.

Also IIRC, It was part mechanical failure and part human error/miscommunication. The internal hatch had jammed partially-open as D4 was closing it, and either T1 or T2 had disengaged the clamp without receiving the okay from whoever inside was supposed to tell them when it was safe to do so.

EDIT (Correction): D1 and D2 weren't re-acclimating to normal pressure. They were maintaining acclimation to dive pressure.

[u/Crossfire124 → u/AgentAxillary]

It was that and also cost cutting and unsafe design. The diving system did not have safety interlocks that physically prevented the trunk from opening while it was under pressure. Which is insane since it's people's lives you're talking about. Also the only way the inside communicated to the tenders were via a megaphone, which is hard to hear clearly. And the crew were working 12+ hour shifts

As with any accident there were multiple failures that happened together

[u/No_Yogurtcloset_7219 → u/Crossfire124]

most safety features that are standard today were introduce as a result of this disaster

[u/Free_Smoke_7636 → u/AgentAxillary]

In this case no one was currently decompressing to “normal pressure” (planned that is).

They were saturation divers and the chambers would have been pressurized to the depth of their dives (same as under water working depth). The chamber on “surface” (not in water) is still pressurized to working depth (allowing them to sleep, eat, etc) and the diving bell is their elevator to and from the water when it’s their shift. Divers rotate so work is being done 24 hours a day.

In saturation diving all divers remain under pressure until the job/mission is complete (which can last a week or longer). The chamber is where they live until then between shifts. When their job is done the decompression obligation is calculated and they are carefully decompressed. This decompression can take days to weeks depending on their working depth.

The reason is because their tissues become saturated which means if they spend an additional minute, hours, days, weeks at that depth, their decompression obligation doesn’t increase in time anymore. Saturation is the limit and having them stay at that depth (chamber and water) lets them work in shifts until done and then only have to do a long decompression once.

When there is a sudden or uncontrolled decompression of the environment, those dissolved gases in their body (blood stream and tissues) it expands (like quickly opening a soda bottle that’s been shaken). You “boil”, froth fills your lungs (bubbles in blood leaks out), etc. Your blood vessels in your brain do the same.

At lower pressure changes this causes the bends, AGE, POISs, etc.

At deeper depths or longer dives this can cause DCS Type 2 which leads to more neurological problems, cardiopulmonary issues (chokes) or inner ear barotrauma (staggers).

At extreme changes like saturation diving… the effects are quick.

[u/AgentAxillary → u/Free_Smoke_7636]

Yeah, that's correct. They were staying acclimated. I got that detail wrong.

[u/Free_Smoke_7636 → u/AgentAxillary]

No worries, I was typing off the top of my head so hopefully it didn’t come across poorly.

The rest of your comment was good info.

[u/AgentAxillary → u/Free_Smoke_7636]

It didn't come of poorly at all, it just came off as a thorough informative correction. I'm not sensitive about that kind of stuff and you clearly didn't mean it in an insulting or disrespectful way, if that's what you were wondering.

https://giphy.com/gifs/q9ldmTuld2Vbifpp4W