Search/Rescue

[SarahBella]

Anyone ever do any rescue/recovery dives?

Its been about a week since a 12 year old boy was reported missing here in upstate NY…

Local News: Police Narrow Search for Jaliek Rainwalker | rainwalker, search, pond - cbs6albany.com a

The Police used cadaver dogs to track the boy-three different times they ended up at a pond on a golf course. Before they drained the pond divers were sent to look for the boy. The other day at work some of the people that know I am a diver asked, hypothetically, if I would want to go look for the boy? Please keep in mind I don’t have any training for search and rescue yet and would never dive out of my skill level. My answer was yes much to the surprise of my co workers-If I thought the dive was in my ability I would go.
Honestly a big part of me was against the idea of a cold, low vis dive in a stagnant pond looking for a body I most likely would have an image of stuck with me for a long time. When I thought of his family and what they were going through...the dive would be difficult but necessary.

Has anyone ever had to deal with this sort of situation?

[scubaculture]

I was a volunteer diver on the police dive team back in South Africa, sadly I was involved in two recovery operations. One where all the victims were found in there car which went off the road into a dam and one where a young boy had fallen off a jetski and drowned. Its a very difficult thing to do, especially if there are children involved but the gratitude the family shows you for recovering there loved ones makes it worthwhile.

[shadragon]

Originally Posted by SarahBella

Anyone ever do any rescue/recovery dives?

Never for a body luckily. I have recovered an outboard motor from 24' in a lake, located sheared moorings / anchors and repaired props. Also, pulled in a bucket of golf balls some cottage owner fired into the lake from the shore. They were all within a 50' circle so the guy was consistent.

[BouzoukiJoe]

One of my buddies was a military diver in France. When some guy has a heart attack and drives his car into a waste treatment facility, my buddy gets called in to help with the recovery. Even with a full helmet and haz mat suit it's not a job I would do.

[comet24]

Lots of things to take into consideration in such a dive. Someone with proper training should be making that dive.

[h2odragon1]

My brother is a rescue/recovery diver in his county in S Illinois, he has done recoveries of bodies. He says to volunteer the first two days, the body gets ravaged by the crayfish after a couple of days, and you don't want to recover them then.

[hoop]

I don't know. I have asked myself this question a couple times. I would enjoy looking for a gun, something thrown, boat motor, etc.... I don't know about a body recovery... I've known some guys that did body recovery for the sheriff's dept., and they said a body can get really ripe in the heat of the summer.... add to that the turtles have been nipping on the body for a couple days...... It can get pretty gruesome...

[SarahBella]

I appreciate all the input-It may be some of the most difficult work to do and as many have said it could/will be gruesome but I do think I want to take a search/rescue course. See where that takes me and maybe someday I will have a chance to help a family in need.

[BuzzF117]

Couple weeks ago dove with a DM who is the DM for the county search and rescue team he said it never fails he gets called when its pitch dark out and raining or icy cold.

[No Misses]

When I was just a boy, we were canoeing on the Susquehanna River (170 miles). When we went through the town of Lockport, they were dragging the river for a swimmer who thought that he could swim over the icebreaker/dam. He was wrong. He briefly surfaced below the dam before being pulled back under and disappearing. Since we were going to be on the river for a few more days, we were asked to keep an eye open for a floater. This was shortly after the movie Jaws hit theaters. With every swing of the paddle I imagined a bloated head popping to the surface, like when Hooper was checking out the damage to the bottom of that boat. My 12 yr old imagination saw creepy things in every piece of flotsam on the river.

P.S. his body was recovered 2 days later.