How did Fran Crippen's death happen?

How did this happen?

How was a professional swimmer at an open-water event allowed to disappear from everyone's radar, only to have his lifeless body found two hours later?

Where were the rescue boats, lifeguards and spotters on the shore?

We are referring to American Fran Crippen, who died at the age of 26 during a 10-kilometer FINA World Cup race in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 23.

Crippen fell behind other swimmers during the last lap, a two-kilometer loop in the Gulf of Oman, part of the Arabian Sea between the Middle East and India. Teammate Alex Meyer realized Crippen had not finished and immediately called for help, prompting many of the swimmers to return to the water in search of Crippen. Rescue crews found his body near the final buoy two hours later.

We talked to Steven Munatones, an open-water expert who has been a competitive swimmer, writer, coach and race director. He was in New York last weekend to oversee a 17.5-mile swimming event. We asked Munatones if it is normal protocol during a race to have a lifeguard or rescue boat trail a swimmer who has fallen back.

"Absolutely. In fact, problems generally occur from the mid-pack to the trailing swimmers," Munatones said. "As I study the sport, talk with other race directors and make observations of open water races, the trailing swimmers are what catch my eye ... although it is obviously more entertaining to watch the excitement of photo finishes among the top athletes."

It was clear that nobody acted when Crippen slowed down during Saturday's race. Ayman Saad, executive director of the UAE swimming association, told the Associated Press there was an adequate number of rescue boats, lifeguards and divers on hand. FINA officials approved the safety measures before the race started.

Even if there was a sufficient safety presence at the event, it doesn't appear that enough was done to ensure the safety of the competitors in the water, which was reportedly about 84 degrees. Coupled with the near 100-degree air temperature, having to swim for two hours in those conditions is a daunting task. It's also dangerous.

Should more be done to ensure swimmers are safe at these types of events?

"Yes, it is an ongoing process," said Munatones, who runs a few open-water Web sites, including openwatersource.com. "I learn from every single race that I have seen ... and I have been doing this since 1982."

Munatones added that race directors must always know how many swimmers start, drop out of and finish a race. The numbers need to always add up; if not, there's a problem.

A few other points about Crippen's accident:

-- UAE officials said that "overexertion" led to Crippen's death, not the harsh racing conditions. Three other swimmers were treated at a local hospital after the event for heat-related ailments. Thomas Lurz of Germany, who won the race, said heat was absolutely an issue for all swimmers there.

"The water was amazingly hot," Lurz told the Associated Press. "Nobody thought such things like yesterday could happen ... It shows it was really just too hot."

Lurz also criticized the rescuers' response when it was clear that Crippen had not finished. Read more of his comments here.

-- Will this accident lead to stricter safety rules for open-water events? Should there be a minimum number of safety personnel at any given race based on the number of participants?

FINA and USA Swimming are conducting investigations into what exactly caused Crippen's death. For now, an ocean-full of questions linger.