History has shown us time and time again that death can come in many terrible and unexpected forms.
On November 5, 1983, five “saturation divers” working near the Byford Dolphin oil platform met a truly horrific fate during an accident that shocked the industry.
Divers operating at extreme depths use a specially balanced mix of oxygen and nitrogen to breathe safely while working underwater.
To manage this, divers often live for several days in a pressurized chamber. This setup makes it easier to carry out deep-sea construction or repairs without going through long decompression procedures each time.
By staying in this pressurized space, they avoid the repeated and risky process of pressurizing and depressurizing their bodies.
But sadly, for the five men in this chamber, what should have been a safety system turned out to be fatally dangerous.
However, as the five people who were in this chamber discovered, this can be quite harmful.
This section was isolated from the rest of the unit, since it served as the space where divers could safely decompress after spending time at depth.
No one knows for sure why it happened, but the diving bell somehow got released before the doors had been completely sealed. What we do know is that the mistake turned out to be catastrophic.
To put it in perspective, divers normally spend several days slowly adjusting to surface pressure after working at such depths. You can imagine how violent and deadly such a sudden change would be.
The other four divers—Roy Lucas, Bjørn Bergersen, Edwin Coward, and Truls Hellevik—died in ways that were both brutal and heartbreaking.
Due to the rapid depressurization, the nitrogen in their blood expanded suddenly, creating internal bubbles that tore through their bodies with terrifying force.
But one diver in particular experienced an even more horrific fate than the others.
The sheer force caused his internal organs to be expelled from his chest cavity, scattering them throughout the pod. Some pieces were even found as far as 10 meters away from the chamber.
Martin Saunders, another tender on duty, was the only person who survived the disaster. However, he was left in critical condition after witnessing and experiencing the horror up close.
However, one diver suffered a particularly horrific end.
