Idaho authorities believe that four men are dead after a joke gone bad. The police were called by a child on a boat on a southern Idaho reservoir. They later found four dead adults and a boat filled with five terrified children.
It appears that the men were horsing around when one pushed another man into the water — not realizing that he could not swim. It appears that each of the men ended up in the water trying to help but ultimately drowned. The victims are listed as 57-year-old Darrel Shappart, 26-year-old Jared Hale, his 30-year-old brother Aaron Hale and 30-year-old Stephan Verbeck.
While there were life jackets on board, none of the men were wearing them.
Source: here
tomdarsh is correct.
I learned in junior high NOT to approach a drowning person from the front. In other words they ought not to see you coming. You have to grab them from the back around the neck. Better yet, throw a floating device.
What happens when a drowning person sees you and grabs you, he or she tries to stand on your head (so he can stay above water). This often knocks the rescuer unconscious. Something like this probably happened. Then there are two people in trouble. It quickly went down hill from there as there is still on swimmer thrashing around trying to stand on people. Perhaps there was booze and a heart attack involved too. Hard to say at this point.
I rescued a drowning male when I was of high school age. He was in a lake and I had nothing to throw to him (not even a towel). I didn’t want to go PAST him to get behind him because I didn’t know how deep the water was. Knowing never to get close to someone drowning, I stayed 5 feet in front of him as I slowly moved back to shore. Each time he reached for me, I drifted back a little.
What he did not realize was his desire to grab on to me caused him to swim TO me. We both made it out safely.
I was half-pint size at that time and in comparison he was a big fella.
Third vote for this being an alcohol influenced incident. What is the over / under on the b.a.c. ?
the men had names to begin with and JARED (my cousin) was the one that got pushed in. First I agree 200% that they should have had life vests on but how many adults do not wear them. these men were avid boaters and I guess seeing someone that they love drowning all thoughts went on hold and the instincts to save that person took over. While many are joking about it there are many brothers, sisters, wifes and parents not counting the children that not only seen them drown but the ones that have no dads now do not think that it is a joke at all. No matter how stupid someone acts (and we all act stupid sometimes) noone deserves this. Please put the jokes aside and just think what it would be like if this was someone you loved and just hold your family tight.
🙁
Darwin award.
People without lifeguard training generally don’t know how dangerous it is to swim up to a drowning person. There is a set of drowning “reflexes” – the victim will involuntarily thrash around and grab/pull at the rescuer, which for untrained people, is likely to cause them to start drowning. Remember – it’s very dangerous to approach someone in the water who is in the process of drowning, particularly if you approach them face-on.
In one extreme example (which was probably very, very effective) of lifeguard training a friend went through, the instructor was a very big, solid muscle “football player type.” He would actively pummel the crap out of the trainees in the water and push them under as they attempted to “rescue” him. They would then have to basically get him in a choke hold to subdue “the victim” and tow him to shore. That’s probably about the best training/simulation of what’s involved in trying to rescue someone in the process of actually drowning.
Another aspect of the drowning “reflex” is that once you’re actually drowning, you don’t have the conscious self-control to grab a vest or buoy. All you can do is reflexively thrash and gasp for air. At that point, it’s very, very difficult to swim towards and/or grab a flotation device.
I can clearly imagine that in this case, the first guy goes in and quickly starts drowning, something is thrown towards him, but he can’t grab it. Someone jumps in to go after him, but when they get to him, he thrashes/pummels the “rescuer” and drags him under, so he starts full-tilt drowning. Then the cycle repeats, until they’re all in the water and end up dead. Alcohol certainly could have played a role in both the actual drowning, but also misjudging how bad an idea it was to dive in. Plus, the water may have been very, very cold. It’s amazing how quickly cold water can incapacitate you! In water that’s close to freezing, the cold will actually shock you when you go in and prevent you from inhaling, just like being kicked in the chest.
One of the first rules of rescue is “don’t put yourself in a position where you, also, need rescuing.” This tragic case illustrates two important points:
1. Don’t just have a vest “on hand” or “nearby.” Wear it. Clip the buckles. It may be hot and uncomfortable (and “uncool”). It’s just like wearing your seat belt in the car. 99.9999% of the time you don’t need it, but that 0.0001% that you do, it’s a matter of life or death.
2. Be very, very wary of jumping in the water to go after a drowning person. (Or dog…) This is absolutely the case in waves, fast moving streams/rivers and icy water. It may be heart-wrenching to see someone drown, but if you don’t have the training and the equipment to make it reasonably safe, you’re asking to have exactly this sort of thing happen. Do not try to be a hero.
This case was really, really bad because four people died, but there are countless examples every year where someone starts drowning, and their would-be rescuer ends up dead also – don’t add yourself to the body count.
Once they started jumping into the water to save each other they were goners. Trying to save a person in the water by jumping in with them is like running into a burning building. You actually aren’t ever supposed to do it, even as a last resort.
As has been said or implied: these guys either didn’t have rudimentary safety training, or they didn’t take it seriously, or they panicked, or they were drunk.
Those kids got some serious PTSD.
Do we have nominees for the Darwin Awards here?
The shit that can happen when you lose your head… mindboggling.
I think I am at a loss for words on this one.
Did the owner have a boating license? Did the license training include instructions on what to do if someone falls off your boat? I would hope the answers to both are “yes” which means the boat owner was negligent… and paid the ultimate price for it.
Darwin strikes again, and unfortunately five kids get to suffer for it.
frankdawg
1, August 11, 2010 at 10:10 am
I know its a stretch – but could . . . alcohol . . . been involved?
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hmmmmmmmmm
I know its a stretch – but could . . . alcohol . . . been involved?
Instead of throwing someone a life jacket … instead of putting on a life jacket before jumping in to save …
Five terrified children … that’s an understatement
This is a tragedy that boggles the imagination
mespo,
unfortunately, I know several people that own boats and can’t swim. They are careful and keep a vest close. I don’t know why, but it is not for me to say.
Who goes boating knowing full well you can’t swim?
AY,
Yes. How does no one think to throw a life vest (or put one on) before jumping in the water with a thrashing man who can’t swim? At least the kids are physically alright.
Kay,
Surely you funna me right? How do you suppose the first one got in the water? How about the next three? What about the life vests? Why weren’t they used?
Do you think that someone should have been in charge? How about the children being left out there? What kind of traumatic moment must they have experienced.
Your statement raises another question, do you think that they should have been familiar with the water craft, after all they did have children involved? Just saying…..
I suppose you think its ok to solo jump without being prepared to learn how to parachute? Hell boys, this looks like fun…wanna try it…Hey yaw’ll get a load of this….
Do you think even a video viewing (how to run the water craft) would have been helpful?
Some boats are much more difficult to climb into from the water than others.
Stupidity Gone Bad.