Victim Retrieval

Words: 1615
Pages: 7

The Essential Unit in Search and Rescue A frantic eight year old boy, the oldest child present, calls his mother during a summer afternoon endeavour. On the boat were three adult males and three children closely related to them. Once the first man was pushed into the water as a joke and the second swam in after him, the final male did not resurface due to the chatos the non-swimmers produced. The second phone call to his mother resulted in a 911 call which deployed Search and Rescue. The men were never seen alive again (Brown). Water has the capability and power to result in tragedy in an instance. The risk that water implements on the daily lives of many, requires a Search and Rescue dive team to be the extremely qualified and trained, to …show more content…
“When the team is looking for a body, there are many psychological effects on both the rescuer, and the victim's family” (“Victim Retrieval”). While this is the job of rescuers, recovering a lifeless body is a very emotional experience. Dive teams have procedures in place while in rescue modes. While is rescue mode, the victim has a chance of being recovered (“Victim Retrieval”). Modes change depending on how long the victim have been in the water. It is very important that rescuers stay diligent while searching and remain at a consistent pace. “Normally if the victim has been in the water for over one hour the team reverts to recovery” (Victim Retrieval”). Many different scenarios contribute to when a rescue reverts to a recovery. Not every situation is the same however the one hour rule is a very reliable …show more content…
“The first rule of search and recovery is to determine where the object went down, and start there” (“Basic Search and Recovery”). While this can be a daunting task and may take time, if the first step is not well executed then a body may never be recovered. The arrival of a rescue scene is often chaotic and the facts may not be clear, however this can ultimately distinguish life from death for the victim. The next step is to organize the events throughout the rescue (“Basic Search and Recovery”). Divers are working together to cover more ground and ultimately find the victim in reasonable amount of time. If the scene is unorganized then an area may be subject to another search rather than using resources and searching different areas. This organization requires a basic plan to be implemented before the search begins to utilize the time and resources of the divers and Search and Rescue (“Basic Search and Recovery”). Search and Rescue meetings are implemented on a monthly basis to discuss these emergency plans as well as insuring that the team has the necessary equipment to be useful in a diving situation. The basics of Search and Rescue all be implemented to insure the best outcome for the victims caught in an unexpected emergency