Visiting snorkeller dies off Cemetery Beach
(CNS): A 65-year-old man visiting the Cayman Islands from Illinois, US, was pronounced dead at the hospital on Wednesday morning after snorkelling off a West Bay beach. Police said the 911 Communications Centre received a call at around 9:30am that Joseph Dieschbourg had encountered difficulties in the water off Cemetery Beach.
According to the RCIPS, when police and EMS personnel arrived at the scene, and the man was unconscious. CPR was administered and the man was transported to the George Town hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 10am.
This is the first person to lose their life at sea in 2016 after 15 deaths last year in or on the water.
Category: Local News
Prayers go out to the family. Such a tragedy while on a holiday.
I am not sure what the solution is.
I was on holiday in Oct. when there was a high surf. The beach was closed by hotel standards, but I was laying out on the beach as I wanted a tan. I thought that I could just step in the surf at the edge just to cool off a bit (ankle deep) A wave came and smacked me on the back and knocked me flat out face first. I gained respect of the sea immediately which I guess I never had before. I knew the beach was rough that day, but I never imagined that it would throw me to the ground.
I think one doesn’t realize the dangers until they happen. I didn’t realize even going ankle deep was a danger and I am an educated person. I knew going deeper was not a good idea. People are on holiday and are there to enjoy the sea. Maybe as suggested above areas closed off specifically for swimming with life guards would be helpful?
Since I was an eyewitness to this situation and helped administer CPR to the person in question; I’ll weigh in…I was about 800 yards down the beach when I saw 2 men giving CPR to someone close to shore. I ran up to them, asked if anyone had called 911 or went to the fire station across from the beach? I saw that his friend and another person was continuing to administer cpr; I ran to the fire station where I encountered 2 fireman who immediately ran back to the beach with me and took control of the situation and rendered aid. Although their efforts and the efforts of the local police who arrived very shortly along with the ambulance personnel were very prompt and professional, It was over 10 minutes by my watch since he was pulled from shore. I am not a medical professional, but I have encountered several emergency scenes in my life and this appeared to be a heart attack. I would like to comment that I found the Cayman Island first responders first rate in their response time and how they handled the situation. I was a Life Guard in my past and I can tell you that it is very difficult job to monitor a pool or especially a beach where your field of vision and ability to render aid is hampered by distance and other natural obstacles. When I was in Boy Scouts in the USA, we were never allowed to swim or dive without a buddy. This system puts more responsibility on the individual who choses to swim or dive but it is proven to be effective. I did ask his friend what his name was and where he was from as my family and I prayed for him and his family. I was praying from the time I saw him on the beach. Sorry I couldn’t do more.
Thank you SO MUCH for your help with this situation. Joe was an amazing man with a heart of gold and I thank you for being there in a time of need to get him the best care possible. I have to believe that everyone did the best they could in this situation to save his life, so thank you for being there for him and his friends. He will be missed dearly and I thank you so much for offering prayers as he comes from a spiritual family and that will mean a lot to them.
SSM345 I agree with your comment, but it would take DoT and government to see that your suggestions are very much-needed to protect the tourist and tourism. . Then how would you make sure that the life guards are on the job doing the job ?
Thursday? That’s tomorrow.
I am very sad to hear that we have lost his life to the ocean, I give the family my condolences. CNS you posted the article on 20/1/2016, but said Thursday morning , is that an error?
It’s not an ocean tho. It’s the Caribbean Sea.
I am glad that I am not the only one who gets fed up with people referring to the sea as the ‘ocean’…particularly realtors who happily, and falsely, describe their listings as ‘ocean front’! Which ocean? The Atlantic? The Pacific? Don’t think so. I think the Caribbean Sea is a beautiful sea and a great place to be! Let’s be honest about our geographical location and stop pretending that we are elsewhere.
Yes, this inane point is the important issue on this thread. Get over it, loser.
The Caribbean Sea is a section of the North Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Geography.
Mr Geography’s world ends at the horizon as viewed from Grand Cayman. It is quite a common form of myopia and apparently is untreatable.
What an ignorant comment. So you have to have been born overseas to be able to understand basic geographical concepts! It is comments like you that get the rest of the expats a bad name.
Wrong. The Caribbean Sea is the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean is the Atlantic Ocean. They are completely separate geographical entities even though they may be adjoining. By your reckoning the Mediterranean Sea is also part of the Atlantic Ocean…as are all connected seas/oceans. Complete nonsense. Are you a realtor by any chance???
The geography books say you are wrong, and what does the Mediterranean have to do with it?
The Caribbean is a part of the Atlantic Ocean- fact –
But you missed the important part of the story – someone trying to save a strangers life!
For all our Public Beaches, is it not high time that our Govt. employed Life Guards? Especially where the reef is 200+yds from shore? Tourists and Beaches go hand in hand, and it is becoming apparent with these weekly deaths we read about that something needs to be done to address the safety issues these people face when they enter the water. Simply saying,”its at their own risk” is not good enough, our reputation needs to be the best out there and acknowledging that they are our guests with some sort of safety afforded to them would be a good way of showing that.
Know your limits bobo. Simple as dat!
First of all the reefs are not 200 + yards from shore. Anyone can see a fair amount of reefs very close to shore especially at Cemetery Beach. 15 deaths last year in a 52 week year is hardly what I would call “weekly deaths”. I think tourists and locals take a risk when crossing the road, driving a car or snorkeling and that risk is: There is an apparent risk in everything you do in life. We do not know what happened to this man apart from he ran into difficulties. He could have had a heath condition such as a heart attach and that said heart attach happened whilst he was snorkeling.
As tough as it is to say: When people run into difficulties at sea it is bad enough if that said person has problems on land but at sea it makes those problems that much more difficult to respond to and rescue.
Do I think we should have lifeguards patrolling our beaches? No I do not. Do I think people should use their best judgment & determine for themselves how far out, how deep and am I fit for doing such activity. Yes.
Just to “patrol” all of 7 mile beach we would need to have a lifeguard every 50′ to 100′ to accurately patrol our waters. Hotels do not patrol the beaches or even have lifeguards on duty a the pools.
If we want to “keep our tourists” safe then why don’t we hire crossing guards every 50′ so that tourists can safely cross our roads.
I am sorry for this families loss and my condolences extended to his loved ones. However, keeping tourists safe can cover a broad range of areas and given mitigating factors I find it almost impossible to keep tourists safe all the time.
“S” a very sensible comment , with sensible facts. Beach surf life guard patrols in countries that maintain it , Australia for example, set up swim zone patrol on very small designated areas of beaches , mainly due to rip current & undertow factors. The remaining zones of those beaches are not patrolled. Swimmers that go into the non-patrolled beach zone do so at their risk. It would be near impossible to implement patrol swim zones on 7 mile , as the entire beach has zero rip-currents or undertow areas ( except in nor-westers & storms) so the whole beach area remains ‘swimmable’ for people to enjoy. There are no closed areas of 7 mile beach, due to such factors. Lastly, swimmers enter the ocean at their own choice & no one forces you to do so . Any underlying health condition can manifest itself in many ways due to stresses on the body from swimming, scuba diving or snorkeling.