Scuba Shack's Boat Get Wet Sinks in Key Largo

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Not defending the instructor, but perhaps the instructor stayed in water after vic one was put on rescue boat to help with vic two? Should the instructor have got out of the water and stood on the deck of the rescue boat waiting for vics to be brought up so he could do CPR? Both of the vics were removed from the water at separate times. There were also other people in the water in need of rescue that lived. We don't know what if any role the instructor played in their rescue.

If it were my loved one or me, I would want the guy dry and rested performing CPR if I had a choice, not the guy wet and stressed out. Lots of blame to put on this operation, but who did CPR I don't think is one of them. If there hadn't been any other good Samaritan boats around and the instructor was the only choice, that is another matter.

 

[The Chairman]

Indeed, the sinking of a vessel is a violent event. It's quite probable that many on that boat were injured in some way. The first rule of first aid is to avoid creating an additional victim.

 

[highflier]

Could be they tried CPR in water until rescue boat got there. In which case they would be exhausted and letting a fresh and qualified CPR person take over would have been the proper action. From my reading of the story, it sounded like they were in the water for a while before rescue boat arrived. I assumed that the captain of the sunk vessel free dived down 30' to free the trapped victims, Just a assumption and nothing more. Also wondered if anybody managed to get Life vests, or any scuba gear as they went over the side? There has not been many comments on that part of the event.

Highflier

 

[DandyDon]

Damn. I have a hunch that everyone did as much as they could in rescue. If there'd be any chicken$%^&s, I think we would have head about it.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

As this whole sad thing sorted out, there were 8 people in the water. 6 made it to the surface with minor injuries and two were trapped below the water line. It as I understand it took some minutes for other vessels to respond. It appears efforts were made to account for where everyone was and that the captain free dived to attempt rescue the two who were under the surface. He did in fact bring them to the surface. I do not know if the instructor also made efforts to dive down or if he/she remained on the surface tending to the other wounded and in peril members of that ill fated trip.

I am not going to fault crew members or passenger for being hysterical and out of control that someone just died on their boat. We all respond differently to emergencies and if we have also suffered even a minor injury, it can interfere with our ability to respond.

It appears from all I have read that the problem was with the boat in the first place and that when it sunk all was done that was possible by the crew, passengers and responding boats to turn a bad situation around. The best solution would of course be for all boats to be in tip top condition with passive permanent flotation. I love the video of the Boston Whaler that is cut in half with a chain saw and still floats. We had an incident here in a local lake in which a sail boat flipped with a father and his 4 year old son. The child had on a PFD, but got tangled in the line and the boat went down in about 160' of water. I am becoming more and more a fan of boats with total positive reserve flotation even in event of a severe hull breach or flip of the vessel.

Anyway, lots of reasons to beat up the operation for taking the boat out in the first place. The captain, crew and owners can and will be held to account for that, but I think we need to give some small measure of credit to the captain for diving down without gear in 30' of water to attempt a rescue at least twice and that he successfully brought them to the surface. He did risk his own life to do that. I would argue that he/ the whole boat should never have been in that situation to start with, but once there, he made an effort to save his passengers.

Pat, you are still reading, I have a journal I would like to send to you if you want it. It is called, "Mom Tell Me Your Story, a guided journal" It is meant to be filled out by a mom for her children. It has all sorts of questions about music, family, memories and so forth for the mom to share what she thinks. Perhaps it is something you could do with Aimee's family and fill out together for your little girl.

A few of the questions are:
What brought you and dad together?
What interests do you and dad share?
Describe sacrifices you have made for your marraige
How did you come up with my name?
How as being married to dad enriched your life?
Tell me about a troubling time in your life and how you got through?
What is one of your favorite memories as a child?
What is a funny story that has happened to you and dad since you got married?
and so on....

 

[cruiser]

Indeed, the sinking of a vessel is a violent event. It's quite probable that many on that boat were injured in some way. The first rule of first aid is to avoid creating an additional victim.

That's also the rule when attempting a rescue.

 

[Peter_C]

Something to think about and I do not have any facts, but for those that were scuba diving off the boat, they may still have been in their wetsuits. Being positively buoyant would make it pretty much impossible to free dive down and attempt a rescue. The Captain on the other hand was probably in street clothes and able to get down to the sunken boat.

Take the word Captain out of the discussion and we have a guy who free dove 30 ft down multiple times to attempt to rescue two people. 30 feet is deeper than many of our abalone divers with fins can work in. The free diver in this case did a great job diving down inside the hull of the boat and getting the two people back to the surface. Did the free diver even have fins on? Someones fins would probably have floated to the surface, so the free diver may have had fins on. How about a mask? Was he able to procure a scuba kit? What he had available still doesn't change the fact he was able to bring both people back to the surface.

My take on it is there were many mistakes made and obviously the boat was unsafe. At the same time the Captain did everything he could once the accident happened, and is a hero for what he did accomplish (He was able to save a life!). He will have to live with her death for the rest of his life, asking himself "What if?" His career is done and he probably will never be able get his captains license back. I can only imagine what he still has to go through regarding this horrible boating accident.

 

[conchrandy]

Accurate and reasonable summation by UnderSeaBB. The only thing I would add is the importance of maintaining a presence of mind by the DM/Instruct preparing themselves mentally for worst case scenarios, and not falling apart. This is the chosen profession and such incidents are inevitable.

OT-Thursday afternoon, USCG received a "sinking" call from a KL boat Capt. Details sketchy, but rumors are flying..

 

[reefman]

OT-Thursday afternoon, USCG received a "sinking" call from a KL boat Capt. Details sketchy, but rumors are flying..[/QUOTE]

just recieved the same report from someone on the water earlier. details also sketchy,,,


reefman
key largo

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

The only thing I would add is the importance of maintaining a presence of mind by the DM/Instruct preparing themselves mentally for worst case scenarios, and not falling apart. This is the chosen profession and such incidents are inevitable.

I don't think you will know how you will respond until you are forced to respond. A friend of mine works at a gym. They are required at this particular gym to go through CPR and defib training among other things. He said he did quite well in the training. Gave calm clear commands and operated the training equipment with ease. Clearly and calmly told everyone to stand clear on the test defibrillator. When a guy dropped with a heart attack for real instead of saying, everyone clear, all clear blah blah blah, he screamed like a little girl in a voice so high pitched it startled him, "GET BACK GET BACK GET BACK GET BACK!" He did save the man's life and was honored at a Red Cross banquet. He stated that he had a hard time being calm with such a great amount of adrenalin flowing through him and being scared out of his mind that he would not do it right because this time it really counted.

Sometimes you plan to keep it together and sometimes you just can't. Other times you find something deep inside you that allows you to respond in a way that you never thought possible.