On 1 November 2020, PADI Open Water Diver Linnea Rose Mills[1] drowned during a training dive in Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, Montana, while using an unfamiliar and defective equipment configuration, with excessive weights, no functional dry suit inflation mechanism, and a buoyancy compensator too small to support the weights, which were not configured to be ditched in an emergency.[2][3]
During the dive, her dry suit was compressed by the ambient pressure, and as she was unable to add gas to restore buoyancy, she became negatively buoyant and was unable to swim upwards. She fell off an underwater ledge while trying to attract the attention of the instructor, and though a fellow diver attempted to stop her descent, he was unable to ditch any of her weights and had to surface to save himself.
The incident was poorly investigated and as of November 2024, no criminal charges have been made, but a civil case for $12 million was eventually settled out of court, and counsel for the plaintiffs has urged the state to prosecute.