A man snorkeling Sunday afternoon off St. John drowned, V.I. Police Department spokesman Melody Rames said. Details remained sketchy Sunday night, but Rames the man was in his 50s and hailed from Ohio.
According to Rames, the incident happened at “Johnson Reef Cay” close to Maho Bay. However, V.I. National Park Chief Ranger Lloyd Morris said it happened at Whistling Cay, a small island located near Francis and Maho Bays and off St. John’s north coast. While there is a Johnson Reef, there is no cay with that name. Morris said the man was brought ashore at Maho Bay Camps.
The Police Department’s web blotter indicates St. John Emergency Medical Service got a call for a water rescue at 1:13 p.m. At 1:52 the web blotter noted that a person was deceased.
Both Rames and Morris said they expected to have more information Monday.
“The case is still under investigation,” Rames said.
I was at maho bay yesterday while the “rescue” was happening, and I was horrified at the response. The park staff on the boat were performing CPR on the man on the boat right off the beach for at least 10 minutes before even attempting to transfer him to the ambulance. I am certified in CPR and their technique was questionable to say the least. The ambulance driver woman (EMT???) seemed uninterested in helping, especially if it meant getting her pants wet to go near the boat. She stood on the beach nonchalantly and passed the board to A RANDOM PERSON ON THE BEACH to assist with transferring the man off the boat. No one appeared to be in any sort of hurry, yet if they were performing CPR one has to assume there was a chance of survival left for him. Meanwhile, the person who was with the man was left out in the water and not retrieved for quite some time. And the worst part? Once they stopped attempting to save his life, they left the victim’s body next to the ambulance, uncovered in full sun and in plain view of many people at the beach, including small children. His face was blue and it was quite obvious that he had passed away, yet they made no attempt to put him in the ambulance or even cover his face for quite some time.
I am disgusted and horrified and I’m not the only one who saw this and feels this way. I hope something is done to prevent this kind of lackadaisical emergency service in the future. There is simply no excuse for it.