The profession of "betting with death"

If you ask fishermen which profession is the most dangerous when going out to sea, 100% of them will probably say diving. Many people compare diving to “eating food in the human world and working in the underworld”, which partly shows the danger of this profession.

Even a small change is dangerous.

The evening sun gradually fell on the poor street in Phu Tai ward, Phan Thiet city, when Mr. Tran Thanh Son (46 years old) and his third child returned home after a day of diving. "Today is quite good, each of us earned nearly 300,000 VND", Mr. Son began the story after the greetings between me and him. The sun, wind and saltiness of the ocean made Mr. Son look older than his age. By the time of his son, it was the fourth generation to be involved in the diving profession. Mr. Son himself had been involved in the diving profession for more than 30 years. The diving profession has given his family many things and also taken a lot from his family. One of Mr. Son's grandfathers died while diving and an uncle suffered from waterboarding (symptoms of decompression sickness - PV) leading to paralysis of the whole body. Mr. Son is from Ninh Hoa district, Khanh Hoa province. Around the 90s of the last century, Mr. Son followed his friend to Phan Thiet to dive and then got married and settled here. When I asked about the dangers that divers may encounter, Mr. Son's face seemed to wrinkle, his eyes filled with worries. In 30 years of diving, Mr. Son has experienced all the dangers of his job, including touching the line between life and death.

In the middle of the ocean, who knows what could happen to a diver.

“With this profession, even a small change can cause danger to a diver. A big wave, another ship accidentally passing through the area where the diver is diving, a slight change in the body can also create danger when at the bottom of the ocean…”, Mr. Son shared. That’s right, not only Mr. Son but all the divers I have ever met have the same comments when talking about the dangers of diving. In the middle of the vast ocean, a fishing boat of dozens of tons looks small, let alone a diver. Moreover, when a diver jumps into the ocean, the only thing that connects them to life is a breathing tube that is only as big as a finger. In 30 years of working in this profession, Mr. Son has experienced countless dangers. Many times, while Mr. Son was diving in the sea, a large ship passed by, and the propeller cut off the breathing tube. Then there were times when, while diving to catch delicious seafood, the air blower suddenly had an accident and turned off. Then there are times when going out to sea in rough seas, big waves push the boat far from its original position, causing the breathing tube to break or become clogged. At times like that, the diver can only cut off his gear and quickly surface to save his life. But there are also times when he has surfaced but encounters rough weather, his fellow divers cannot see him and are left adrift in the vast ocean, life is as fragile as a candle in the wind. “This diving profession is inherently harsh, no one dares to claim that they are good at it. At the same depth, after many years of diving without any problems, if the person is tired or there is an impact from the outside, an accident will happen. Besides experience, the thing that helps a diver overcome dangerous times is faith in the ancestors and God,” Son confided.

For fishermen, when they go to sea and catch a lot of seafood, it is a joy and happiness. But for divers, hitting a spot with a lot of seafood is of course a joy, but in that joy there are also dangers, even facing death.

Winning seafood is both fun and dangerous for scuba divers (photo by French scuba diver 86).

Magic of the sea

Divers often tell each other about the danger of being attracted by the strange attraction when they are caught in a stream of seafood. In 1995, Son, then 17 years old, was diving to catch clams when he hit a nest. “At that point, clams were lying in layers, and I just had to reach down and pick up ones the size of an open hand. There were so many clams that I was drawn in, and all I could think about was getting as many as I could without realizing that I had gone too far and dived too deep. When I discovered it, my vision was dark and I passed out in the middle of the ocean,” Son recalled. Luckily, his fellow divers discovered it in time and took him to the emergency room, and at that time, Son was still young so he quickly overcame death.

Not as lucky as Mr. Son, a few hundred meters from his house, Mr. Duong Van Dien (born in 1968) has had to live with paralysis in both legs for 25 years due to water pressure. Mr. Dien was born in Quang Ngai province. When he was in his late teens or early twenties, Mr. Dien used to dive in the Hoang Sa sea at a depth of 30-40m. Then he went to Binh Thuan to practice his profession, got married and settled down. On the day the incident happened, Mr. Dien was diving at a depth of less than 20m to catch clams. At that time, the income from diving was very high. Wanting a high income, every time he went to the sea, Mr. Dien tried to catch as many clams as possible. “At that time, I was only 31 years old, my health was good, so that depth was normal for me. But unexpectedly, while diving that day, I felt dizzy and then passed out in a split second. My diving partner saw that I had not come up for too long, so he dived down and brought me up,” Mr. Dien recalled. Later, when he regained consciousness, his friends told him that when they brought him onto the ship, he had almost stopped breathing. His fellow boatmen brought him to the mainland and contacted his family to buy a coffin to prepare for his funeral. But then a miracle happened, when they arrived at the port, everyone discovered that he was still breathing and took him to the emergency room.

In the memories of long-time divers in Binh Thuan, the most glorious and also the most tragic time of the diving profession was from 1995 to around 2000. At that time, the daily income of a diver was about 500,000 - 700,000 VND, equivalent to about 1 or 2 taels of gold, which was normal. Anyone who diligently went diving for a few days could buy a tael of gold within reach. Seeing the high income, many people from the Central provinces flocked to Binh Thuan to apply for work. At first, they were just rope pullers, but seeing the "huge" income from diving, they applied to learn the profession. Some people, young or old, who did not know what diving was, also practiced using a snorkel. Then after a few days, they applied to dive officially. They had no experience and no escape skills, so at that time, many divers had accidents while diving. Every few months, one person died, and countless divers were forced into water, paralyzed, and suffered health damage. The number of work accidents related to diving is so high that authorities have to organize short-term training courses and health checks before allowing diving to limit incidents from happening.

The only thing that keeps a diver alive at the bottom of the sea is his snorkel.

The ancient profession of diving has many potential risks, but there are still people who take up this profession to make a living. Some people follow the profession as a father-to-son relationship, some people come to diving as fate, the profession chooses them and then they take on the burden of the profession. The income from diving is not as good as before, but compared to other professions, it is a bit better, enough for divers to take care of their families and raise their children. Soaking all day in the vast ocean where the sun cannot shine, many people compare diving to the profession of "eating on earth and working in the underworld". But that saying also implies the danger of this profession. Maybe we just ate a bowl of rice together, but a few hours later, we are separated by life and death...

Within just 6 days, from March 23 to 28, there were 3 incidents of divers having accidents while diving in the province, resulting in 3 deaths. The oldest person was 53 years old and the youngest was only 23 years old.

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