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Sea diving – trophy and invalidity

Sea diving – trophy and invalidity

Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 11:17 GMT+7

Some men on Ly Son Island are honored as the ‘Kings of Diving,’ as locals admire their endurance and courage on the ocean floor, but many of these men fall victim to adverse effects from the sea, such as invalidity, due to diving.

Part 1: Born to divePart 2: Sea diving voyage worth a fortune Part 3: Sea diving – trophy and invalidityPart 4: Chivalry on the open sea Part 5:  

For a long time, the skills of diving, swimming and fishing have been considered an asset of Ly Son islanders, which is located 30 km from the mainland and whose economy relies mainly on fisheries.

The seas around Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos are familiar to locals, as they can learn by heart the depth, water flow, kinds of fish and geological surface of the ocean floor at different coordinates.

A champion

“If you add together all the times I have dived to the bottom of the East Sea, the distance may be equal to the width of an ocean,” said Mr. Bui Thuong from the West Village of Ly Son Island.

According to Bui Thuong, he went on six voyages a year during his career, each lasting 30 days. Everyday, he dove to the seabed six times at the depth from 50m-75m.

Now in his 70s, having quit diving long time ago, he still enjoys good health, with a robust stature and pink complexion. However, an unexpected difference in this islander is his failing eyes, which make him look as if he were glowering at his visitor.

This is the consequence of deep sea diving and straining his eyes under pressure to track fish, he explained.

He recalled the time when he was crowned with the championship title in diving. It was in August 1963, when the whole of Ly Son Island was well decorated with colorful flags and banners to celebrate the national diving tournament, organized by the then-president of South Vietnam.

Doctor Nguyen Thanh Nhon, a special envoy of the president, witnessed the event with the goal of recruiting its best divers.

Around 60 competitors attended the tournament, which was comprised of events such as freestyle diving, deep sea diving, and holding one's breath under water. For holding one's breath, Bui Thuong came in second for spending over 20 minutes underwater without any device. The winner of the contest was Le Luan with 25 minutes. A normal person can hold his breath no more than 10 minutes on average.

But at the deep sea diving event, Bui Thuong was crowned the champion for going down 67 meters. Le Luan arrived in second with 65m.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, Thuong's wife, recalled that she fell in love with him before the tournament and it was her that encouraged him to enroll.

“He was afraid that he may go far away to work for the State if he won the contest and then he and I would be separated,” she added.

“To me, he is the champion of many things,” she said slyly, as he turned back to look at her with his glowering stare.

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Bui Thuong and his wife in the back (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

With the title, Bui Thuong was selected to attend a diving training course and it is his knowledge that has helped many followers avoid accidents during diving.

For deep sea diving, resurfacing requires techniques, otherwise a diver may suffer heart failure, stroke, or paralysis due to the sudden change in pressure. In general, ascending to the water's surface is divided into three stages, he said.

Upon ascending a third of the depth, a diver must linger for 10 minutes, rest for 20 minutes after going up two-thirds of the depth, and 30 minutes in the last stage, he said.

The reverse side of success

However, many Ly Son divers have suffered invalidity and even death from accidents during diving.

Some have died because of cramps, some from technical accidents such as broken air pipes, and others have suffered invalidity and physical disabilities due to deep water pressure and incorrect diving techniques.

Ly Son seems to have more sufferers than winners at sea. After suffering such an accident, a diver is no longer able to go offshore and must stay on land in a wheelchair.

Some of the Ly Son sufferers are Nguyen Van Cuong, 28; Nguyen The Khai, 55; Duong Quang Son, 55; Le Gia, 37; and Bui Tran, 40.

Now, Ly Son has hundreds of children who have lost a parent because their fathers are deep sea divers.

Tuoi Tre

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