Canadian visitor dies after snorkelling at WB beach
(CNS): A 63-year-old man who was visiting the Cayman Islands from Canada died yesterday afternoon after collapsing on a West Bay beach. The visitor, who has not yet been identified, had been snorkelling at Cemetery Beach when he got into difficulties and was assisted to shore by another person at the location.
He collapsed after reaching the beach and was attended to by officers from the Cayman Islands Fire Service, which is directly across the street, who assisted with CPR until EMTs arrived.
He was then taken by ambulance to the Cayman Islands Hospital and later pronounced dead. The man is the fourth person to die in local waters already this year.
Category: Local News
Or maybe just a few at the public beach areas?
With a requirement that the hotels hire some also?
Hey CNS it would be a nice upgrade if you could show pictures of the current newer ambulance that are in service instead of the same old picture. Also totally agree with all the comments relating to our need for more emergencies service training especially more ambulances. Only having 3 in service at one time for 60,000 + people is ridiculous. But government officials won’t care until its there family waiting on an ambulance. Also remember the CIEMS is under HSA. At the end of the day HSA are the ones to blame for lack of ambulances and staff. Put it in the damm budget and government stop screwing around with crap that should not be a priority for this country right now. Fix our own issues before catering to tourism.
No mention of AED used but a comment says the attending firemen used an AED. An AED at public beaches might save lives..
Time to have lifeguards dotted along the beach?>
no
god forbid they might save a life….
You can have a lifeguard every 500 feet along the 26,400 feet of beach , I’ve trimmed it down to 5 miles rather than 7 miles ( the beach isn’t actually 7 miles long ) & adjusted for the fact that scuba instructors are at a few key locations anyway. Looks like we are going to need 52 life guards , or 26 if we did it every 1000 feet .
Instead of all that money going to the dock build let’s take 10% of that and get more ambulances and crew and get police/firemen upskilled to handle these emergencies. Install more defibrillators at key locations. And then take another 10% and have an ER type facility in each district. Waiting for the ambulance crew to get to/from GT is costing lives.
Good luck convincing the cruise lines to do that with the money instead of dock.
Gov isn’t paying for it.
Finally someone with a brilliant comment. Even if government did some of these suggestions it would help.
Life guards wouldn’t have helped if the person died of a heart attack. He would have died no matter where he was.
Do you know how many beaches there are around the world that do not provide lifeguards??? This is such a silly argument. The number of beaches we have here.. oh nevermind.
Lifeguards can’t always prevent a heart attack or stroke…
Just because others don’t provide does not mean we should not. There is no good reason that lifeguards cannot be posted during peak times at the main beaches say 8-4. I think you are mistaken that it would not help. Lifeguard/cpr/aed/first aid training.
Would definitely not hurt.
RIP and condolences to the family. Was there another today? I saw ambulance active at Eden Rock this morning.
Lifeguards?
After years of multiple snorkeling fatalities immediately across the road, do West Bay Fire Station crews not have a $500 Automated External Defibrillation (AED) kit ready to go or training? I had thought the Cayman Prepared’s CERT basic training was supposed to cover this? I only ask because there is no mention of AED use in this report.
Yes they do.
The aed was used. Fireman did a great job as they always do.
DOA at hospital does not sound like a result to celebrate.
Why do they have to mention whether it was used or not?
If they respond to a fire are they supposed to mention if they used a hose or water???
4th person and we aren’t even a month in. Lifeguards!!!