Siphon Four: Four Divers in the Roza Canal
Zillah, Washington, 15 March 1997. Two divers hired by an irrigation district go into a flooded, pitch-dark siphon nearly half a mile long to hook cables to dumped cars. They tell the crew to call 911 if they are not back in an hour. Two volunteer rescue divers go in after them. All four die. Told from the Seattle Times and Spokesman-Review reports and the state's findings.
Chapters
0:00 Lights in the tunnel
0:43 The siphon
1:54 The job
2:48 One hour
3:45 The rescue
4:54 Draining it
5:42 The arithmetic
6:44 The findings
7:28 What the record says
Sources
Seattle Times, "3 Divers Killed In Zillah Irrigation-Canal Accident" (16 March 1997): https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970316/2529137/3-divers-killed-in-zillah-irrigation-canal-accident
Seattle Times, "Rescuers Of Divers Ran Out Of Air In Irrigation Tunnel" (17 March 1997): https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970317/2529219/rescuers-of-divers-ran-out-of-air-in-irrigation-tunnel----three-men-are-dead-lone-survivor-remains-in-a-coma
Seattle Times, "Canal Diving 'Intimidating': Two Bodies Are Recovered From Siphon" (18 March 1997): https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970318/2529386/canal-diving-intimidating----two-bodies-are-recovered-from-siphon
Seattle Times, "Mistakes Doomed Divers: Some Experts Blame Deaths On Bent Rules" (24 March 1997): https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970324/2530383/mistakes-doomed-divers----some-experts-blame-deaths-on-bent-rules
Spokesman-Review, "4 Divers Who Died Misjudged Oxygen" (7 May 1997): https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/may/07/4-divers-who-died-misjudged-oxygen/
Spokesman-Review, "Lack Of Proper Equipment, Training Cited In Diver Deaths" (27 June 1997): https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jun/27/lack-of-proper-equipment-training-cited-in-diver/
Wikipedia: Cave diving (overhead environments; the five rules): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_diving
Full transcript:
https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/diving/transcripts/ep02.vtt
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