61 / 116
the combination of swimming,
moving the unresponsive victim
and enduring the general stress
of it all. We deployed our DAN®
oxygen unit to help him recover.
Later we learned the victim,
who was the boyfriend of the
woman in the inner tube, had
swum across the cove in pursuit
of a small raft that the wind was
blowing across the water. He
failed to reach the raft, became
exhausted and submerged about
20 feet away from the far shore.
The man unfortunately never
regained consciousness and was
later pronounced dead.
Looking back on the incident I
think about what we as individuals
and as a team did right and what
we will do better if we ever find
ourselves in such a situation again.
After this experience, I cannot
overstate the importance of being
prepared. I believe all divers
should learn and stay current in
CPR skills and emergency oxygen
administration. I also advocate
carrying rescue gear such as
pocket masks with you — they
are extremely effective for giving
rescue breaths and shielding
you from bodily fluids and
possible disease transmission.
The instructor who had one
with him always keeps it in an
add-on trim pocket secured under
his dive-knife grommets. Now
each member of our instructor
team includes this as part of our
normal kit.
We always keep a DAN
Rescue Pack oxygen unit with
us whenever we are at a remote
dive site. We have an emergency
action plan that acknowledges
that cell phone reception is often
bad at our local dive sites and that
multiple agencies may be involved
in an emergency.
I was proud of our team’s
response and how closely it
followed what we teach in our
Rescue Diver program. I believe
we gave the victim the very best
chance possible.
AD
ALERTDIVER.COM|
59
“Our training kicked in. One member of
our group returned to our base camp
to phone for emergency assistance,
two swam to assist the woman and
get a better understanding of what
had happened, and the rest descended
to conduct a search pattern. Five
minutes into our search I discovered
an unresponsive man on the bottom in
approximately 40 feet of water.”