A 68-year-old scuba instructor died yesterday afternoon after he was pulled out of the water at Gun Beach.Beach-goers attempted to revive the unconscious man about 3 p.m. until Guam Fire Department medics arrived.
The dive instructor, who has not been identified by authorities, was declared dead shortly after arrival at Guam Memorial Hospital, said Nursing Supervisor Cely Mangrobang.
Two witnesses, Lynn Mortimer and Shane McGee, both of whom are technical sergeants at Andersen Air Force Base, said they were relaxing on the shoreline when they spotted a group of divers standing in the shallows, screaming for someone to call 911.
While a woman on the beach called the authorities, Mortimer and McGee helped carry the unconscious diver to the shore. At the water's edge, an Air Force medic, Senior Airman Elizabeth Ashley Butler, tried to use CPR to revive the diver.
The diver was beyond help, Mortimer said.
"He had lost pretty much all color and he was definitely non-responsive," Mortimer said. "And you could see, every time they were doing chest compression on him, more and more water was coming out. ... You have hope, until you get to a certain point."
Butler said the diver had no pulse when he reached the shore. She tried to ask the dive group what happened, but members of the group appeared too confused or shocked to answer, Butler said.
Butler said she had never performed CPR on a person before, but her training kicked into gear in an instant.
"I started compression, and told somebody to give breaths and showed them how to do it. ... We probably did about five rounds, and about that time the paramedics showed up," Butler said, adding later, "It sounds weird, but I just automatically jumped into my mode."
Mangrobang said hospital staff continued CPR before the diver was declared dead.
Gun Beach is on the north end of Tumon, and is popular with divers and beachgoers. The area has a channel cut into the shallows that makes it easier for divers to venture outside the fringing reef, but the beach can become dangerous in rougher seas.
Less than an hour after the diving tragedy, the beach had returned to normal. A small group of tourists waded in the shallows and a few snorkelers swam near the channel. If not for the accounts of the three airmen, it would have been impossible to tell anything had happened at all.
Mortimer, McGee and Butler also said the group of divers identified the unconscious man as their dive instructor.
Although the cause of death can't be declared until after an autopsy, the Guam Fire Department has classified the death as a "drowning incident."
There have been six other water-related deaths on Guam this year. Also, a spear fisherman in Saipan was lost at sea last week.
