Three missing divers rescued; one doesn’t make it
When we signed off on this broadcast last night it was with the news that the four divers missing at sea since Saturday had been spotted by a B.D.F. aircraft. Tonight we can report that three of them have survived and are recovering at a Belize City hospital. Although the survivors have yet to tell their tale, today I was able to piece together some details of their ordeal and the implications of the tragedy.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
After drifting at sea for more than two days, at approximately six thirty on Monday night, four scuba divers, last seen near Silk Caye, were pulled from the water some twenty miles south east of North East Caye on Glover?s Reef. The four divers were found in the same area, but were floating separately from each other.
Terribly dehydrated and sunburnt, three of the divers had survived their traumatic ordeal at sea, but twenty-eight year old Abigail Brinkman, the only one not wearing a wetsuit, did not. Her body has been transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted this afternoon.
The survivors: thirty-eighth year old Nancy Masters, fifty year old John Bain, and thirty-four year old Yutaka Maeda were later airlifted by BATSUB helicopter from South Water Caye to Universal Health Services in Belize City.
Dr. Victor Lizarraga, Universal Health Services
?They were hypothermic, dehydrated, not only that, but had ingested quite a bit of salt water, badly sunburnt, all fair skinned people, no food, very hungry.?
?They got disoriented after a while, so fortunately those that survived had on wet suits, and the one who did not survive didn?t have a wet suit. And according to them, she passed with time, she just couldn?t make it. But their ordeal was really terrible, they are lucky to alive.?
Dr. Victor Lizarraga is one of the attending physicians treating the survivors.
Dr. Victor Lizarraga
?One was in bad shape, the smaller of the three, more hypothermic than the rest. At that point in time what we do is immediate resuscitative measures with intravenous fluid rehydration. One of the problems with ingesting seawater is that you get metabolic problems, so we had to check that right away and warm them up as quickly as possible. The big problem right now is the burns, the two days of sun; it will take a while for that to get fully recovered.?
Janelle Chanona
?First, second, third degree??
Dr. Victor Lizarraga
?The probably have second degree burns, it’s sunray burns and mainly it?s the upper part of the body, the exposed part of the body. But they are already drinking and eating, their other electrolyte and metabolic problems are being corrected right now. They should be in good shape tomorrow, better shape, I shouldn?t say good, but better shape than they were when they came in.?
It was nurse Nancy Masters who used what little strength she had left to wave to the B.D.F. defender flying overhead during a massive international search and rescue effort. That was at exactly three minutes to three on Monday afternoon. Officers on board the aircraft called in to the nearest land base, Northeast Caye, and using G.P.S. coordinates all boats in the area were immediately dispatched to the site.
Abigail Brinkman had arrived in Belize on Saturday, October first. A medical student from the U.S. state of Indiana, Brinkman was doing volunteer work in fulfilment of her degree requirements at the Jericho Hillside Clinic in Elridgeville in the Toledo District. Tonight we understand she was scheduled to leave the country this weekend. Co-workers at the clinic today remembered her love for diving and how excited she was after a series of dives off Ambergris Caye earlier this month.
Brinkman was part of a group that left Placencia around ten-thirty on Saturday morning. Six stayed on Silk Caye to snorkel, while the foursome left with dive master Henry ?Bee Bee? Tucker to Gladden Spit. Sources tonight indicate that shortly after the group finished their first dive, Tucker discovered that the engine wouldn?t start, apparently because water had gotten into the gas tank. This morning, Tucker told News Five that on directives of the Belize Police Department, he was unable to make an official comment on the incident. However, according to a press release issued by the Belize Tourism Industry Association on Monday afternoon, Tucker had asked the divers to stay on the boat until help came.
B.T.I.A. Press Release:
?He [Henry Mark Tucker] told the search party that against his persistent advice to stay with the boat and await rescue, the four divers, wearing full dive gear, decided to try and swim for Silk Caye while it was still within sight on Saturday.?
This is the second time in less than a year in which Advance Diving has been involved in a diving mishap. On December twenty-ninth, 2004, owner/operator the dive shop Vance Cabral was behind the wheel of the same vessel, Advance One, when it capsized in rough seas near South Water Caye with ten divers on board. While no one was injured in that incident, the Belize Tour Operators Committee, a subsidiary of the Belize Tourism Board, had suspended Cabral?s tour guide license for one month, put him on a one year probation, and mandated that standard safety measures be on board at all times. Tonight News Five understands that both Cabral and Tuckers? tour guide licenses were expired at the time of the latest incident. Although the B.T.B. could not confirm that information, Product Development Manager Anthony Mahler told News Five that the committee will meet this Friday to discuss the fate of Advance Diving.
Anthony Mahler, Product Dev. Mgr., Belize Tourism Board
?It doesn?t look good for Mr. Cabral, I can say that. He?s under probation at this point in time and according to the tourists that were onboard with him, most of the dive shops refused to take them out on that day and he chose to, knowing that this was a critical incident that happened a few months ago and he was still under probation. So it doesn?t look good from my point at this time. But there is a committee made up of his peers and other public officers and we will decide that on Friday when we meet.?
Janelle Chanona
?What would be the types of measures that you could take, another suspension??
Anthony Mahler
?Well this one involves a loss of life and maybe a total revocation of license, and so he wouldn?t be able to hold?I don?t want to speculate on what would be the outcome of that, but those are along the lines. Maybe a revocation for a year who knows, but this is a serious incident and we don?t take it very lightly and I?m sure he is going to be used as a guide on where we want the industry to go in terms of safety and standards. ?
John Searle, PADI Course Director
?In general, Belize has very good safety standards. The standards are all in place. Most of the accidents that I am aware of have been things that really we could prevent.?
In the aftermath of the maritime disaster, this afternoon, the country?s first PADI course director John Searle, told News Five every diver should check for basic safety equipment on board before leaving the mainland. Communication equipment and life jackets are key, but things like wet suits, fluorescent flags, and signalling lights can make a big difference.
John Searle
?Things that I would be looking for would be emergency oxygen on board, certainly first aid kit, basic boating safety, items like your anchor, running lights, things like that as well.?
?There are lots of dive accessories that you can use as signalling devices in the case that you were doing a drift dive and maybe the boat lost contact with you, things that you could signal the boat or signal someone on shore with. Things like that would be maybe an air horn, an audible device like an air horn or a whistle and also they have devices that we call signal tubes that you basically inflate with air and they extend maybe six feet above the surface of the water.
According to officials at the United States Embassy in Belize City, fifty year old John Bain is from Kansasville, Wisconsin. Nancy Masters is a visitor from Portland, Oregon; while Yutaka Maeda is a Japanese citizen. Before coming to Belize, Abigail Brinkman was living in Indianapolis, Indiana. The group of divers were spotted by the sharp eyes of Lieutenant Christopher Neal and Captain Raymond Shepherd of the Belize Defence Force. On behalf of the victims’ families, we thank them and everyone else who participated in the rescue effort.
