That's quite a depressing read Gus !
As a "trained" first aider I would have to agree that doing the "wrong" thing can
cause additional injury, so an "untrained" passer by , should think twice !
I was in Portugal a few years ago and at the local "pretty" beach the weather and sea got bad
quite quickly, I'm a big strong guy but just in the water to "thigh" height - I was getting knocked down.
It was obvious that swimming was NOT a good option but an old gentleman was out and swimming around
a large rock around 400m from the beach.
There was some commotion and his daughter ( my age ) and grandchildren were becomming distressed as he
had gone from sight for some time - he was in trouble and going under in the now VERY rough sea.
Cut a long story short, the beach life guards did a "runner" as did most of the beach occupants, my partner and
her mother stopped me from going in - even though I'm a good swimmer and "ex" lifeguard, we ended up alone
on the beach comforting the ( German ) children - as we speak the language a little, Police came and go to the
grandfather in a boat, he was dead and brought back to the beach, we gave a quick statement and the beach
life guards were later arrested.
It was a horrible couple of hours and I'll never forgive myself for not going in, but in that sea I may well have got
into trouble also ....
Watching a busy beach full of people "empty out" as the tragedy unfolded was quite disturbing, many of us are not
able to cope in these situations.
MM.