Nöbetçi Eczaneler
By Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell
Two scuba divers were hospitalised, one with a serious case of decompression sickness (DCS), following a dive at the Kreidesee, a flooded quarry located in Hemmoor, Germany.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday, 27 July, when a 56-year-old male diver surfaced rapidly after suffering a medical emergency at a depth of around 24m.
The second diver, believed to be a 53-year-old woman and the partner of the male diver (initial reports said both divers were men) followed him to the surface, where the two were able to make their way to the shore and alert the emergency medical services.
According to an eyewitness statement posted on German diving forum Taucher.net, the two divers were provided with emergency oxygen at the site.
While both were initially responsive, local police said that the male diver’s health ‘deteriorated progressively’ and he was airlifted to a hyperbaric facility in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, approximately 400km southeast of the Kreidesee, with ‘serious injuries’.
The female diver, who was reportedly showing much milder symptoms, was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Decompression sickness – also known as ‘the bends’ – occurs when nitrogen gas that has been absorbed into the body’s tissues during a dive is released too rapidly during ascent.
An uncontrolled release of nitrogen can lead to the formation of bubbles within the tissues, the results of which can vary from mild aches and pains to life-changing and sometimes fatal injuries.
Although DCS is typically associated with deeper diving, a rapid ascent from any depth after enough nitrogen has been absorbed can cause bubbles to form.
The Kreidesee (which translates as ‘chalk lake’) is a popular dive site located in Lower Saxony in northern Germany.
Originally an open-cast chalk mine that flooded after mining at the quarry ended in the late 1970s, the lake is famous for its clear water and has a maximum depth of 60 metres.
Over the years, a number of vehicles including cars, boats and a small aircraft have been sunk to attract visitors, who make an estimated 35,000 dives in the lake each year.
Kreidesee has had its share of accidents over the years, with at least 12 fatalities since 2010. In 2023, a 30-year-old woman died due to a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) following a rapid ascent from 35m during a training dive. An uncontrolled ascent was also blamed for the death of a 34-year-old diver in May 2025.
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