WWVaBeach Posted February 16, 2010 Posted February 16, 2010 About every 6 months or so I get to head to Pearl Harbor to teach classes for our Navy. I was scheduled to head out on the 30th of Jan but a snowstorm cancelled our flight out of Norfolk. Thinking quick on my feet we flew out on the 29th ahead of the storm spent the night in Atlanta and headed to Hawaii as scheduled on Saturday morning. I worked and played with no instances until after work on Tuesday the 9th of Feb. My wife and I were sitting on the beach in front of our hotel when we heard someone screaming help from in the water. It was a female surfer who came across a body floating in the water. More yelling for 911. She pulled the body (older Japanese tourist) onto her board and started CPR. People swam out to her and started pulling them ashore. They were about 500 yards out. She did chest compressions and mouth to mouth for at least 20 minutes while being pulled to the beach. As they came ashore the paramedics arrived. It appeared the victim was already dead as he was blue from head to toe and extremely bloated. The paramedics then took over and loaded him into the ambulance. Sadly in the next days paper it was confirmed that he did indeed drown. The girl that found him never gave up trying to get him to breathe, but to no avail. May he R.I.P. We were scheduled to head back here on Thu the 11th and were notified that our connection fron ATL to Norfolk was cancelled but were rescheduled on a later flight in the day. No worries right? Wrong! All flights until Sunday were cancelled so we ended up stranded in Atlanta during a snowstorm (3") until yesterday without our luggage. I can't imagine what happened to the families that were stranded money-wise. I'll get reimbursed for my lodging etc but for those folks it's all out of pocket. Even after all that I'll go back in a heartbeat.
Acantha Posted February 16, 2010 Posted February 16, 2010 ...so we ended up stranded in Atlanta... You're right, that is disturbing.
Acantha Posted February 16, 2010 Posted February 16, 2010 On a more serious note... Did the paper say what happened to the guy? Was he just out swimming and drowned? Good on the girl for doing what she could. Compressions in water are tough, even with a board.
WWVaBeach Posted February 16, 2010 Author Posted February 16, 2010 On a more serious note... Did the paper say what happened to the guy? Was he just out swimming and drowned? Good on the girl for doing what she could. Compressions in water are tough, even with a board. We actually saw him and his family BBQing in the park by the Hale Koa. He probably went swimming cramped up and that was it. If you're familiar with the Hilton Hawaiian Village he was out past the end of the Atlantis pier near the channel markers. She worked her ass off trying to bring him back to life. The whole thing was quite disturbing to see.
Jim in Anchorage Posted February 16, 2010 Posted February 16, 2010 . She pulled the body (older Japanese tourist) We actually saw him and his family BBQing in the park by the Hale Koa. He probably went swimming cramped up and that was it. If you're familiar with the Hilton Hawaiian Village he was out past the end of the Atlantis pier near the channel markers. She worked her ass off trying to bring him back to life. The whole thing was quite disturbing to see. Ghosts from Pearl harbor got em.
gmac17 Posted February 16, 2010 Posted February 16, 2010 very sad. A ton of tourists drown in hawaii every year - don't realize they are dealing with the pacific and not a pretty postcard.
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