It could be weeks before final answers known in death of teen scuba diver

The Venture Scouts had had two successful dives in the Haigh Quarry near Kankakee on Saturday and had just gone back into the water for a third trip down.

But when one of the two adults leading the High Adventure trip looked around underwater to see that his teenage scuba divers were all with him, Ken Uhl was missing.

The Scouts surfaced, and the adults ordered the kids out of the water, said Stephen Taylor, executive director of the Northwest Suburban Council of the Boy Scouts.

Taylor said Tuesday he has spoken extensively with the members of Crew 188, the five other teens and two adults who were on the scuba trip that ended so tragically.

Taylor said the two adults searched underwater for five minutes. Unsuccessful, they called the Haigh Quarry rescue team.

The rescue team located the 16-year-old about 30 minutes after he was discovered missing, Taylor said.

The rescuers pulled Uhl out of the water and tried to resuscitate him there, before an ambulance arrived to take him to Provena St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee.

Paramedics continued to try to resuscitate him, but the teen was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3 p.m. Saturday. Taylor said the Crew 188 boys were deeply affected by the tragedy but have held themselves together.

“They handled themselves very well, very maturely, Taylor said. “They were very open about what they saw and very responsive.

All the boys on the trip were from the Northwest suburbs, although Uhl was the only one from Buffalo Grove High School, officials said.

The eight members of Crew 188, all certified scuba divers, split up into two groups one adult in each to explore the quarry. On each dive they went down a rope and rested on a platform about 30 feet below the water's surface.

The Kankakee County coroner's office did not offer a public explanation for Uhl's death on Tuesday, although equipment failure appears to have been ruled out Monday.

One source close to the tragedy said Tuesday a preliminary Kankakee County coroner's report suggests that Uhl died of a pulmonary embolism a blood clot in the boy's leg that burst, causing his sudden death.

The coroner's office did not confirm that on Tuesday, nor did they make the preliminary report public.

Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner said questions about Uhl's death will not be officially answered until toxicology reports are returned.

“It could be two or three weeks until we have an answer on this, Gessner concluded.

Dr. Jeffrey Huml, the medical director of critical care at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield and a pulmonary and critical care physician, said pulmonary embolisms are very rare in young people who do not have predisposed conditions.

Huml said scuba divers sometimes suffer air embolisms if they don't properly exhale while ascending to the surface. Air sacks can enlarge and even rupture in the lungs, he explained, causing air to enter the pulmonary vein and eventually the heart.

A junior at Buffalo Grove High School, Uhl was an excellent student who wasn't afraid of tough academic challenges any more than he was afraid of physical ones. He was a member of the school's scholastic bowl team and had been on the math team his freshman and sophomore years.

“As a member of the math team, he was a huge part of our success, said Binh Huynh, head coach of the Buffalo Grove High School math team. Huynh remembers Uhl as an academically accelerated kid who always made his teammates laugh.

“It is tragic losing him at such a young age, Huynh said. “He will definitely be missed.

The school observed a movement of silence Monday morning, and a group of 35 students has started to make plans to memorialize Uhl.

Meanwhile, funeral services have been set.

Visitation for Ken Uhl will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. A memorial service and Mass will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 8, at St. Mary's Parish, 10 N. Buffalo Grove Road, in Buffalo Grove.