Freediving injury Boca Chita Key, FL

[seanik]

Official: Divers hospitalized after blacking out in waters
Apr 19, 2008 6:34 PM (10 hrs ago) AP
» 10 hrs ago: Official: Divers hospitalized after blacking out in waters «

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Filed under: BOCA CHITA KEY, Fla. , Divers Blacked Out

BOCA CHITA KEY, Fla. (Map, News) - Two divers are hospitalized after blacking out in the waters at Biscayne National Park in South Florida.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Eddy Ballester says the two young men were apparently free diving off a recreational boat Saturday afternoon. People aboard the vessel plucked the pair from the water and called emergency officials.

Ballester says both divers showed improvement after rescue crews gave them oxygen therapy. The divers were flown to a hospital.

Ballester says one of the men had been celebrating his birthday with friends and relatives.

 

[james croft]

Interesting that both had a blackout at the same time. I am only guessing they were together and had a similar profile. Looks like the folks on the surface did a good job handling the emergency.
Another example of why oxygen should be on hand when diving.

 

[OceanObsessed]

Here is an artice that explains what happened. I'm glad they both survived... this could have easily turned out much worse. Sounds like everyone was pretty attentive and they must have been properly weighted.

-------Pasted from the Miami Herald website -------

Friends save dive expedition from tragedy
BY YUDY PINEIRO
ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com

On his way up from a 90-foot free dive off Boca Chica Key at Biscayne National Park, Robert Richardson looked back into the deep blue waters and noticed his younger brother David was trailing behind -- and seemed to have fallen unconscious.

Richardson instinctively dove back down to rescue him. But he too blacked out.

What happened next may have only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime for their three friends fishing aboard the recreational, 22-foot boat who hoisted them up and breathed life back into them.

''I thought for sure Robert was dead,'' said Nicholas Bravo, 16, a Christopher Columbus High School student who was aboard the boat. ``David looked better when he came into the boat. He was coughing up a lot of blood on the deck. But Robert wasn't even breathing.''

Robert Richardson, a certified diver who will graduate in June from paramedic school at Miami Dade College, had been celebrating his 20th birthday with brother David, 16, and their buddies.

Fire Rescue workers, who received the call shortly after 1 p.m., began life support and transferred the brothers to a medical helicopter. The young men were taken to Baptist Hospital, where they're expected to fully recover.

''I came just as close to losing two sons, at once, as one can come,'' said Julie Richardson, the brothers' mother. ``If there hadn't been five of them, I don't know what would have happened.''

Each played a role.

Carson Williams, 20, dove in to grab the brothers, swimming about 30 yards out. Bravo followed, to help raise them up, as Charles Howard, 15, piloted the boat closer. Once Robert and David Richardson were back on the boat, Williams and Bravo began CPR.

Williams, a firefighter and paramedic-in-training, is schooled in the procedure. For Bravo, it was his first time.

On Saturday afternoon at the hospital, as son Robert burst into apologetic tears, Julie Richardson was finally able to wish him a happy birthday, followed by ``I'm glad you're still here.''