The Navy is investigating the accident that occurred this Wednesday at its Diving Center in Cartagena, where eight divers have been affected during an incident recorded in a hyperbaric chamber. Two of them remain with reserved prognosis, while five others continue to be monitored with minor injuries and one has already been discharged.
The event took place early in the morning at the Navy Diving Center (CBA), located at the Naval Station of La Algameca. The military institution has opened an internal investigation to determine what happened and, for the moment, has not officially communicated the cause of the accident.
These are the main keys to what happened and what still needs to be clarified.
Where did the accident occur?
The incident took place at the Navy Diving Center of Cartagena, a specialized unit in underwater operations located at the Naval Station of La Algameca.
It is a reference center for the Armed Forces in terms of diving, training, and health related to underwater activities. It also has specialized facilities to work under hyperbaric conditions.
What happened to the eight divers?
The Navy has communicated that the accident occurred in a hyperbaric chamber early this Wednesday.
The available official information does not specify what activity the eight affected were performing at the time of the incident nor what the specific mechanism was that caused their injuries.
Therefore, it cannot yet be established whether the accident was related to pressure, the gases used, the operation of the facility, or any other circumstance.
What is the condition of the affected individuals?
The balance communicated by the Navy distinguishes three situations among the eight involved divers.
Five remain under observation with minor injuries, while two others have a reserved prognosis. The eighth affected has already been discharged.
The Navy has stated that its "main concern" is the health status and evolution of the affected members.
What is a hyperbaric chamber?
A hyperbaric chamber is a facility designed to increase and control the environmental pressure inside it. These facilities have medical applications and are particularly important in professional and military activities related to diving.
They allow working under controlled pressure conditions and developing related procedures, among other areas, to the compression and decompression of divers, the training and treatment of certain diving accidents.
The La Algameca complex has an important infrastructure specialized in this area.
What could have caused the accident?
This is precisely the main unknown that remains to be resolved.
The Navy has opened an internal investigation, but so far it has not publicly identified the origin of the incident. Any specific attribution to a technical failure, a problem with gases, or a disorder resulting from pressure would therefore be premature.
Some information has pointed to symptoms related to immersion, but there is currently no official conclusion that allows establishing what exactly happened to the eight divers.
What is the Navy Diving Center?
The CBA concentrates a good part of the specialized capabilities of the Navy related to the underwater environment. Its origins date back to the training of divers developed in Cartagena since 1922, while the current center has been in La Algameca since 1970.
Among its functions are the training and instruction of divers, research and advice, in addition to technical work underwater.
Its specialists also carry out maintenance and repair operations on the submerged part of ships, with interventions that may include plugging, placing anodes, or cleaning intakes.
What remains to be known?
The investigation must now reconstruct what procedure was being carried out, what happened inside the chamber, and what caused eight people to be affected.
It must also be determined whether there was any technical incident or if other factors were involved. Until that investigation concludes or the Navy provides new data, the specific cause of the accident remains unknown.
The medical evolution of the two divers with reserved prognosis constitutes, meanwhile, the main point of attention after the incident.