Freediving can be a very safe sport when safety guidelines are fully implemented and divers are well-trained and experienced in their disciplines. Freediving can be dangerous, especially for recreational divers, when guidelines are ignored.
Common risk-taking behaviors associated with accidents and deaths during recreational freediving include diving alone, diving without proper preparation or training, diving to depths or times beyond your competence and diving in dangerous water conditions. It is also important to check all equipment, weather and water conditions before beginning a dive.
Freediving is safe when participants are well-trained, well-supported and following all relevant safety precautions fully. In competitive freediving there has been only one recorded death in over 80,000 competitive freedives held globally. Recreational free diving has a higher accident and death rate, which may amount to around 59 freediving deaths each year.
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Freediving is a challenging sport in a dangerous environment which places massive demands on the bodies and minds of participants. But is freediving inherently dangerous? If you’re trying to work out the answer to this question, then our article is a good place to start. We look at numbers of deaths, freediving risk factors, and examples of famous freedivers who have died during their sport.
How many people die freediving each year?
In competition freediving, there are normally no deaths while freediving and the sport is actually very safe. There has apparently only been one recorded death during the +80,000 freedives held globally since the inception of the sport.
A higher number of people die during recreational freediving each year. While it is hard to pin down exact numbers, the Diver’s Alert Network (DAN) collects voluntary and media reports of diving and freediving accidents and deaths and publishes an annual report. According to analysis of their 2019 report figures for deaths between 2004-2017, an average of at least 51 freedivers died during their sport each year.
DAN also found that a high percentage of recreational freediving accidents resulted in death, with a 73% chance of an accident proving fatal. (NB Less serious accidents are less likely to be reported and this fact could significantly skew probability calculations.)
Freediving death rate
The death rate for competitive freediving may be around one in 80,000. According to the Australian Freediving Organisation, running, cycling and scuba diving all have higher death rates than competitive freediving.
In comparison, the indicative death rate for recreational freediving is estimated as one in 500. This is more than 100 times higher than for competitive freediving.
How safe is freediving?
Competitive freediving is very safe because dives are carefully managed and monitored under strict guidelines, specialist doctors are in attendance in case of incident, and participants are all highly trained and experienced professionals.
Recreational freediving can be less safe because participants are likely to be less trained and experienced, diving in more dangerous or unpredictable water conditions, without medical supervision, and potentially even diving alone.
Recreational freedivers can boost their safety with thorough training and preparation, checking their diving environment, only diving within the limits of their competence for length and depth, and diving with a buddy in case they run into trouble.
Surface blackout can be a large risk in freediving, especially if you’re not diving with a dive buddy. We’ve written a full article about why divers blackout at the surface (opens new tab) which is well worth reading to help keep you safe when freediving.
Famous freediving deaths
Audrey Mestre death
Audrey Mestre was a world record-setting French freediver who died in October 2002 during dives which were part of an attempt to break the no-limits free-diving world record of 160m. The incident was controversial both due to failures in the organization and management of the expedition, and due to accusations against her husband, Francisco ‘Pipin’ Ferreras, for his role in intentionally or unintentionally causing her death.
On the day she died, Mestre was diving with a team off Bayahibe Beach in the Dominican Republic, overseen by Ferreras. After practice dives and reaching a depth of 171m, she attempted to fill her lift bag from the air tank for rapid return to the surface. Unfortunately, the cylinder was empty and her rise was slowed by lack of inflation, a strong current, and a non-vertical riser rope.
Mestre was underwater for almost nine minutes before Ferreras retrieved her with scuba gear. Unconscious at the surface, she was later declared dead at a local hospital. Criticisms of the dive set-up included lack of rescue equipment, too few safety divers, no doctors in attendance and only Ferreras allowed to check Mestre’s air tank.
Nicholis Mevoli death
Nicholis Mevoli was the unlucky one in +80,000 freedivers, who died during a freediving competition in November 2013. He had been trying to set an American freediving record for 72 meters on a single inhalation, with no fins or supplemental oxygen, during the Vertical Blue freediving championship event at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas.
Mevoli attained the surface after a dive of 3 minutes and 38 seconds but lost consciousness shortly afterwards. Retrieved by safety divers, blood began to issue from Mevoli’s mouth and attempts to revive him failed. Cause of death was reported to be pulmonary edema, where fluid accumulates to dangerous levels in the lung airspaces.
Loic Leferme death
French record-setting freediver Loïc Leferme died in April 2007 while training in the sea off the coast of Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice. A series of mechanical failures reportedly led to him drowning on the underwater sled that he used for “no limits” freediving, the discipline of diving as deeply as possible.
Natalia Molchanova death
Natalia Molchanova vanished, presumed dead, while giving a freediving lesson near Ibiza, off the coast of Spain in August 2015. Described by some sources as the greatest ever freediver, Molchanova held the women’s static apnea world record as well as 40 other freediving records across different disciplines.
Molchanova was the most experienced diver with her group on the day she disappeared. Despite diving only to around 35m in good conditions with no apparent issues, she simply failed to resurface. Coast Guard, divers and robot submersibles found no trace of Molchanova and the cause of her death remains unknown.
Other famous freediving deaths
Irish freediver Stephen Keenan died in July 2017, while overseeing a dive by world record holder, Alessia Zecchini at the Red Sea’s notorious Blue Hole. After Zecchini became disoriented Keenan reportedly guided her back to the surface before blacking out.
References
https://dan.org/alert-diver/article/the-world-of-competitive-freediving/
https://www.deeperblue.com/how-dangerous-is-freediving/
https://australianfreediving.org/freedive/myths/
https://www.deeperblue.com/the-last-attempt/
https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/new-york-freediver-dies-during-competition/
https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-disappearance-of-the-worlds-greatest-free-diver