Dive tower tragedy narrowly averted

Leut-Cmdr Sarah Sharkey. Photo provided by Navy newspaper

The submarine escape training facility where the incident occurred. Photo provided by DDM

By Graham Davis

A NAVAL officer recently received a Chief of Army’s Commendation for saving the life of an SASR soldier.

The Navy doctor, Leut-Cmdr Sarah Sharkey, saved the soldier when he suffered the “bends” during training at HMAS Stirling earlier this year.

CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy presented the Chief of Army’s Commendation to Leut-Cmdr Sharkey during a ceremony in Canberra late last month.

Leut-Cmdr Sharkey is the officer in charge of the Submarine Underwater Medicine Unit at HMAS Penguin in Sydney and is one of the Navy’s top underwater medicine specialists.

On March 11, she was at the Fleet Base West Submarine Training Facility relieving the normal Navy doctor, who was away on a course.

The pivotal point of the facility is a cylindrical tower containing 27 metres of water. Its primary task is to train sailors in submarine escape procedures.

On March 11, the SASR was using the tower for its own training using SASR instructors.

After an ascent in the tower, one of the SASR members suffered significant decompression illness.

The soldier emerged from the tank with difficulty in his breathing, disorientation, difficulty in speaking and with a loss of feeling in his lower limbs.

The SASR medic in attendance activated the emergency alarm, which told everyone in the facility there was a “dive case”.

Leut-Cmdr Sharkey heard the alarm and immediately went to the tower.

The soldier was obviously seriously ill and Leut-Cmdr Sharkey was required to diagnose his problem and begin life-saving treatment.

She said the extent of injury could occur in a very small number of people, even when proper procedure is followed.

“It’s a fairly unusual presentation and it’s probably our worst case scenario,” she said.

“He had a burst lung and bubbles of gas escaping into his arterial blood stream, which goes to the brain and spinal cord.

“That sort of event, if it’s not treated instantly, could result in permanent brain damage, paralysis or death.”

Leut-Cmdr Sharkey inserted a chest drain to relieve the collapsed lung and got the soldier into a recompression chamber for immediate recompression.

“That access to recompression and the medical support that was available are critical factors in determining the outcome when something like that happens,” she said.

“He had a very good response to treatment once we started treatment, but he was certainly deteriorating very quickly before we got him into the recompression chamber.”

The soldier went back into the chamber the following day for a second session.

He spent two days in the Fleet Base West Health Centre and was then sent home to convalesce. He is now fine.