Tiffany George, sister of drowned victim Javel James, 23, yesterday believes the lifeguards on duty at Maracas Bay could have done more in an attempt to save her brother. She was making reference to a video that was posted on the social media site Facebook.
That video showed James’ seeming lifeless body was taken out of the water and placed on a body board. The video also showed lifeguards lifting him and placing him on another body board and running with it to a lifeguard ambulance.
The video which had over 130,000 views had many comments in which viewers argued the point that no one there did CPR on James in an attempt to resuscitate him. However, lifeguards who were on duty on Sunday claimed that a doctor was on the beach.
But speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, George said the video showed a lot.
“They told us they did CPR but when we looked at the video we didn’t see anything like that. They told us a hospital ambulance came for him but we saw in the video that they put him in a lifeguard ambulance which would have taken him to the hospital.
“We heard that a doctor was on the beach but we didn’t see that in the video,” she added.
George said the family, stricken with grief, were at a point where they did not know what to believe anymore. She also said the family was still waiting to speak to the person from the hiking group, Hikers Inc, which took James to the area on Sunday to come forward and speak with them.
“All we want is closure. That is all Javel’s mother, Julianna, is asking for,” George said.
President of the Lifeguards Branch, Augustus Sylvester, said yesterday there was a doctor available on the beach.
“Based on what I understand when they used the board to put him on the ambulance there was a doctor who was on land. There was no need for the lifeguards to do anything there,” he said.
Sylvester said he did not know who the doctor was. He said it was unfortunate as James had been bathing in waist-high water when the incident occurred.
“But the others saw him (James) being dragged out with the current and the lifeguards ran in as well,” he added.
Sylvester said the water was sandy and dirty and the lifeguards had two feet of visibility which was a problem.
“So it was hard to locate him,” he said. He said in light of the numerous drownings every year several citizens have the opportunity to learn to swim. He added there were several programmes, from water babies to competitive swimming, offered at several facilities in T&T.