This is terrible but why couldn't they save him...
 

Race To Save Man Trapped In Drain |Sky News|House Ads

Surely in the 3 hours he was alive they could have mustered some breathing aparatus from somewhere, ie the police divers were there so why didn't they put the gear on the bloke? Also surely cutting hit foot free would have been a better option than him drowning, even if it meant heavy blood loss and infection, at least he would have had a chance.

Any emergency services people on here know why this sort of stuff isn't possible/realistic? Obviously they did their best so not criticising them, just don't understand why they couldn't save the bloke :(

Very odd!!!!

Guess without actually seeing it, and knowing what access etc is like its hard to tell. But you would thing BA would be easy to come by in that time.

Aaah I think its water temp thats done it, certainly a major contributor

Even so, if they had access to his foot to try and free it why didn't they cut him free? As terrible as it sounds he'd be alive minus a foot which in anyones book has got to be better than drowning!

With the water flowing as it has been I cant see someone diving in 5ft of water, with a strong current, and attempting to amputate someones foot. While it was certainly an "option" I dont think its really that simple.

Water is one of the greatest natural forces that catches out some of the best equipt emergency services around the world.
This was tragic but by the sounds of it, not preventable.

You're probably right simply through the logistics of getting cutting equipment down to his ankle but it just seems terrible that in 3 hours of desperate attempts there was nothing that could be done.

How weird, exactly the same thing happened on casualty on TV on Sat night except in that they cut his fingers off to free him!

Water is a mysterious thing.

I've been thrown off the face of a double overhead wave onto a rockface and had a few bruises, yet I've tripped over in fast flowing river water no more than 2ft deep and nearly drowned.

Horrible, horrible story - what a grim way to die.

I was telling the exact same story to Dave this evening! :eek: Not very nice, but I would rather be alive and be one foot less than die!

Who is Dave?

Nick

It's entirely possible that death was due to hypothermia, not drowning - no cause is given.


M

My future husband. :)

Looking at the pictures of the drain on the news it looks like he was in the vertical part of a fairly narrow manhole, so there wouldn't have been room to get at his ankle. It was probably hypothermia that killed him.

I'd have got a JCB and be digging the whole thing out of the road with him inside. (I realise that is probably stupid and wouldn't work).

What a tragic story :(

That happened local to where I am. They were giving him oxygen from the minute the emergency services arrived. Sounds like it was the cold that got to him. The news was leaked before his father was made aware too :(

Seen this on the news,really sad way for the guy to go,:( i also thought the same as Ricardo. I thought they could have maybe dug a hole right beside the manhole and got to him from there or caused it to collapse,thus releasing the guy.
I know its easy sitting here and speculating and i'm sure the rescuers done everything possible.

They were knocking down garden walls to encourge the water to flow away from where he was trapped. You had to be round here to appreciate what a nightmare it's been.

What an awful and tragic thing to happen. Much as I appreciate Mother Nature I wish it would stop bloody raining!

Enigma , just off chanterlands ave if you recognise it:eek:
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1182801873

live just round the corner from there but im not too worried abot it flooding ----- yet .

Aye I recognise it. I was stuck on Kingston Road in Willerby for nearly 3 hrs only to find it was flooded and people were getting turned back. I was trying to head to either Castle Hill to get to work or Skidby to get home.

:(

Poor, poor guy. Wouldn't want to be him. Spare a thought also for the fire crews that have to live with the memory of what happened today.

I cannot comment on the exact incident as I don't know that brigades policy on water rescue but I'll put it to you that one of the guys at my station was nearly disciplined due to a water rescue. Our brigades policy on water rescue is that firefighters will not enter the water and the officer in charge should not have his plan altered by any form of pressure from the on-looking crowd.
When we are called we can throw ropes or provide lighting!! :mad:
The guy from my station would certainly recieved some form of discipline for not following the safe system of work that our brigade supply had it not hit the national press. He saved an unconcious, young woman's life and put himself in hospital. Months have passed and yet we have no more equipment nor have any of the senior management asked if the firefighter in question is OK now (he did however get interviewed for sickness/abscence monitoring:rolleyes: )
It's all about saving pound notes not lives! :mad: :(
There is nothing worse than watching the life drain from someone in fornt of you. It's the type of thing you never get used to. You harden to it but never get used to it.
It must have been hellish on both sides!

Off-topic I know; but Id be surprised to see pslewis posting his usual anti-Fire Brigade sh*te here...eh Peds?

I also work for the emergency services.
I know where you're coming from, our bosses, sorry 'line managers', are so terrified of letting us take the slightest risk.
It's so frustrating at times.

trolling for a response?

Bonehead / PG - Just wanted to say that you guys do a great job. Ive been in a few situations requiring the fire crews / ambalances, and that feeling of joy / safety you get when you see you guys turn up !!!

I cant comment on the situation of this poor guy, sounds a terrible situation, but I would imagine those fire crews would of done as much as they can.

Im not a fan of the poilce, I find them, from my experiences and Ive had many, jumped up little to55ers that look for the easy nick, but fire crews / ambalances, well, I take my hat off to you guys.

Keep up the good work boys !

SBK

That really is an unecessary and even shameful remark to make on a thread like this! What are you trying to prove?

I heard that it was hypthermia that finished him off and it is a terrible thing to happen. He was trying to help someone else out too. I think they were doing all that was possible to save him. Its a bit like that young bloke who was drowned near here in a swollen river when his canoe was caught by an underwater barbed wire and he was dragged under. They could not save him however much they tried.

Les :(

Hypothermia would have been the culprit, you can stop someone from drowning by giving them a respirator, but the only practical way of negating hypothermia is to remove the person from the environment that is causing it. Removing the limb would have been neigh on impossible under those circumstances and the procedure would have been considered only as an absolute last resort, by which time the "in the field surgery" combined with the hypothermia would have most likely finished the poor fella off anyway.

Absolutely dreadful, no-win situation to be in. Feel so sorry for all involved who must be absolutely gutted!

Ns04