How would you handle this situation?

[SeaHound]

I was diving out of a small boat with three other divers. One was my dive buddy and the other was an instructor and student.

The instructor goes in first and then signals the student to dive!

The student was diving in open water for the first time. The sea was a bit rough and he was obviously not used to that. He jumped into the water and realized he was not in control of the situation anymore! He wanted to get back on the boat but the rough sea was preventing him from reaching the stern. This causes the student to panic. He spits the regulator out of his mouth and removes his mask. The instructor is telling him to inflate his BCD and relax but he is too frightened to listen. He starts splashing water in desperation.

The instructor wants to hold him to calm him down but this is a fairly big guy and the instructor is a small lady. She wants to come close to him but he is splashing water like a mad man. The guy is over weighted and the weights are dragging him down. He doesnt have the presence of mind to fully inflate his BCD so he reacts by violently splashing water around. She (the intructor) wants to grab his inflator and inflate his BCD but he is throwing punches. It is an all out brawl between the two and she is no match for his sheer size and ferocity.

I want to jump in to control him but I see that he is taking off his weights. He ditches his weights and then wants to ditch his tank too. He rips the straps of his BCD and releases himself. As the tank and BCD drift away he frantically swims back to the boat.

Me and my buddy pull him up and realize that he has swallowed water. He lays on the boat and coughs out water and then rolls over on his back.

He later told us that he had some phobia related to water and wanted to over come that. He was doing fine in the pool but when he jumped in it kicked back in and all hell broke loose.

What would be the bext way of handling an such an extreme case of diver panick?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Have something to throw to him that floats.

Preferably with a rope attached to it.

So when he grabs onto it you can tow him back to the boat.

 

[texdiveguy]

Since we were not there its hard to say...but based on your details it sounds like the instructor did what she could under the situation...and you did the best you could by staying put on the boat to observe and assist from there...possibly a life ring thrown might have been of help. Sounds like all ended as well as you might expect with know one hurt. Its a tough call from your vantage point...but I think you acted correctly for your part.

 

[fppf]

First step is to not become a victom your self. People in panic will climb on your head to get out of the water. You would want to stay out of arms reach of the person and try to talk them down. They will quickly tier being in an all out death struggle. While this is all happening keep backing away from the person and lead them to where you want them. Again they will be so focused on trying to climb on you they wont even notice you leading them to safety. When they tier to the point of exhaustion and no longer poss a threat to you, then you can go in, drop there weights, inflat there BC and tow them in. If there are poeple on the boat or shore you can try to instruct them to throw a life ring or object to help. You can also instruct them to prepare first aid gear and be ready to help pull the person out.

 

[divebri]

Man, tough call.
I guess first of all, I wouldn't enter the water unless he was killing the instructor (on the other hand, a Dm or I grabbing from behind and inflating his bcd might have worked).
Second, if I could have stayed ON the boat and grabbed him, I would have done that (that means he would have to be close enough to the boat, which doesn't sound like it was the case here).
Third, if the I could have positioned herself for him to chase her towards the boat, that's one of the first things you should do (which doesn't sound like it was possible in this case).
Fourth, if there's anything the I did wrong, it was confronting him when he was full-strength and not tired out yet. One consideration would have been to stay away from him until he wore himself out, talking to or yelling at him until he either complied or got tired.
Fifth, if I was going to attempt a true rescue under that circumstance, I probably would have submerged and grabbed him by his knees, then spun him around and controlled him from behind.

Hindsight being 20/20, it sounds like the I had it as under control as she could.
Funny (as in strange, not ha ha) how things are perfectly normal, then all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. Ya gotta be prepared for anything when you're with students (even advanced or rescue).

Posting things like this makes us all think a little, doesn't it?

 

[bane51031]

Glad all went okay in the end, I agree with the others if you had something to trhow out too or reach out with that would of been ideal cont. to talk to the guy but, like the others said first and foremost do not become a victim yourself.
As far as the instructor, even if she was smaller than the victim the proper approach would of been to duck under water and get around to the back of the victim to control him unless she felt there was no chance of this. By ducking under the water and staying out of reach while in front of the victim she may have been able to gain control of the situation, the last thing someone in fear of drowning is goining to do is follow you underwater.
But, ultimately the failure and responsibility was on the victim as if he did knowingly have a phobia he at minimum should have discussed it with the instructor and even if he didn't should not of put himself or anyone else in that situation. Anyways this is too long already I am going to bed.....

 

[The Chad]

I don't know what your creditals are, but obviously instructors are trained to deal with these situations. I can understand watching it and feeling compelled to do something....and throwing something that floats to them is a great thing to do. Getting in the water is not unless you are trained. Sounds like a drag all around but good for you...I wasen't there but wonder why she diden't drop under and come up behind him, at least you kept yourself safe cudos

 

[Rick Inman]

Agree to stay away, maybe submerge, relax and wait... and someone on the boat toss something that floats at the end of a rope.

It's hard not to want to jump to the aid of someone desperately yelling for help, but sometimes doing nothing is the best response. Sometimes the more someone wants fast, the more it is good to go slow. JMHO, YMMV.

 

[ClayJar]

What I'd say has basically been said already in the various responses, but let me reply anyway.

The first thing we learned about surface rescues was "Reach, Throw, and Go." That was drilled into everyone from the first day onward. So, nice words, but what do they mean?

• Reach: If you can grab the diver from a stable position, do it. Grab a pole or whatever you have handy, and reach it out to them. Reaching, either aided or unaided, gives you the most control of the situation -- you may be able to pull them in without needing them to think.
• Throw: Toss something to them. If you have a throw bag or a float with a line, use that so you can pull them in. Otherwise, throw anything that floats. If it's on the surface, it's an island, and most often they will grab it and hold on for dear life.
• Go: If they're out of reach and in such panic that they do not grab what you've thrown, the only thing left is to go into harm's way and rescue them directly. This is where all the rescue diver training shows how important it is.

It's beyond the scope of a post on ScubaBoard to teach effective rescue diver techniques, but I'll try to summarize a few of the major points to whet the appetite of anyone who may be wondering if it's worth it to take the course.

So, you've got a diver on the surface in full-blown panic. By definition, "panic" means they are in a mental state that precludes rational thought. You cannot reason with them, as they are beyond reasoning, but that does not mean that they will never respond to commands with conditioned responses. Commanding them (and I don't mean pleading -- I mean commanding as if you were trying to out-drill-instructor R. Lee Ermey) to put their regulator in, inflate their BC, drop their weight belt, and so on may work. They won't do it because it seems like a good idea to them at the time; if they do it, it's just responding, without thought, to a command.

If that works and they feel themselves coming out of danger, they'll start calming down enough to start thinking again, and you're getting out of the woods. Otherwise, it may be time to tick it up to another step. Assuming you have thrown floats in the water, a rescuer can grab one of them and swim toward the diver in panic, all the while being sure to keep the float between themselves and the diver. If the diver starts swimming toward them, they can back toward the boat, leading the diver toward safety (and whenever they come into range, the "Reach" part of the rescue takes over again). If the diver doesn't "take the bait", the rescuer can basically shove the float at them. They may not consciously reach for it, but if their flailing arms hit it, most often they will instinctively grab it without even thinking. Once they're on the "land" of the float, they can start calming, just as if they'd grabbed it when thrown.

Of course, they might not take it. If they're so far gone in panic that they won't even grab a float when it's shoved into them, it's time to consider direct action. The thing to remember is that there is *NOTHING* a diver in sheer panic wants to do less than to go back under the water. That is a major advantage to the rescuer, although in no way does it make it "easy". To effect a rescue, the rescuer dives down underwater and comes up behind the diver. If necessary (and I wouldn't bet it wouldn't be), they grab on wherever they can and basically wrestle their way to the weight belt or pockets and dump them. (If you've gotten here, you're *way* past the point of caring for the cost of the ballast.) They can continue up the back of the diver (I find it's easiest to kneel on their back, riding the tank like a saddle) to grab the inflator and juice it. As they're behind the diver with a good hold, the rescuer is harder to grab and can achieve and maintain control over a larger diver with somewhat less difficulty. (It's perfectly fine to place the diver in a headlock or to use a shoulder pressure point to help get them under control.) Assuming the instructor in the water was in full scuba, she would likely be in the best position to dive underwater to effect a rescue, as it's usually easier on scuba than on a breath-hold dive.

And of course, in all of the direct interventions, if the rescuer believes the diver poses too much risk (due to being far too strong or what have you), it is permissible (in some cases, perhaps even advisable) to let the diver wear themselves out somewhat before a rescue is attempted. It's never a good bargain to trade one diver in panic for two divers in imminent mortal peril.

All of this should be taught (and in far more detail) in rescue diver courses, and the practice actually doing it is worth quite a bit. The mental preparation for such rescue situations (and their aftermaths, including angry denial that there was ever a problem, regardless of blind panic and near-drowning) is also important in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, you asked how I would handle the situation, and I've tried to do a very brief summary of some of what would be in my head for such a situation. I hope it's at least a bit enlightening to someone or other on here, and if it helps move anyone toward taking a rescue course in order to be a better prepared diver, all the better.

 

[Trwmodela]

This is why I took and every diver should take a good RESCUE divers class! The exact situation is written in the book and showed on the PADI RESCUE DVD.

The instructor knows exactly what to do. If you are not trained to handle this emergency then stay a safe distance from the distressed diver.

Rescue training the most important class you will ever take.