A Cayman Brac man is alive and well after a dramatic rescue at sea by a teenager.
The day, 28 February, was to be an ordinary fishing and snorkelling trip with Luciano Lazzari, 16, Daniel Kirkwood, 38, his two sons Ian, 12, Cody, 7, as well as Luciano’s friend, Kevin Foster.
What unfolded would have two sons quiet about an ordeal which nearly claimed their father; a teen having sleepless nights and Daniel remembering waking up in the hospital.
The night before, Luciano’s friend, Kevin, asked if he wanted to go on a half-day fishing trip around Stake Bay in Cayman Brac. Loving the water, Luciano did not turn down the offer.
With fishing gear on board, the group left shore around 8am and fished until about noon.
Heading back to shore, Daniel said he wanted to go get some conch. Luciano called his brother to bring diving gear to the beach, along with a mask and fins for his friend Daniel. After cleaning the fish, the group headed out to sea to dive for conch in about 60 feet of water.
Luciano is a certified free-diving rescue diver. “I never, ever thought I would have to rescue anyone, but that is just how it turned out.”
Daniel, Luciano’s diving buddy, is a certified dive master, engineer and father of three boys.
“We were at 60 feet according to the depth finder on the boat,” Luciano said. “I saw the first conch and pointed it out to Daniel and dived down to get it and headed back up to place it in the boat.”
Soon after they found another small pod of conch and Daniel decided to go down. Returning to the surface and about an inch before breaking water, Luciano noticed his friend go limp and that he had dropped the two conch. His friend was not moving, so he lifted him from the water and he coughed. Luciano asked if he was all right. “Yes, just feel a bit cramped, I need to clean the mask because they are foggy,” Daniel replied.
Lucianco said he should have told his friend not to dive again, but Daniel said he just needed a drink of water and he would be OK.
After changing the mask, the two went back to diving for conch. At one point, Daniel dove down on an angle, grabbed two conch and made his way to the surface. About 25 feet from the surface, his arms went limp and he dropped the conch. Lucianco swam down to his friend and found his eyes were shut and he was not moving. Lucianco wrapped his arms around his buddy and proceeded to the surface.
Arriving at the surface, and about 10 feet away from the boat, Luciano shouted to Kevin: “Something is wrong with Daniel.” Kevin reversed the boat toward the two as Lucianco pried the two conch from Daniel’s stiff hands.
From the boat, Kevin held on to Daniel’s hand and Luciano swam around to the other side to get in. He quickly removed his fins and mask to assist Kevin. Just then, a large wave came and knocked Kevin off balance causing him to lose his grip of Daniel’s hand, dropping him back into the ocean.
“At this point, the children did not realise what happening as their father Daniel sank rapidly to the bottom,” Luciano said.
He jumped back in the water and caught up with Daniel at about 6 feet. Wrapping his arms around him a second time, he swam and kicked as fast and hard as he could to the surface without a mask and flippers.
From the boat, Kevin grabbed hold of Daniel a second time. Luciano thought for certain his friend was dead.
“Just then, everything of my training came back to me and everything was going in slow motion,” he said. “I got in the boat really fast and helped Kevin haul Daniel back into the boat. After getting him in the boat and laying him flat, I removed the snorkel and mask and he started frothing at the mouth and nose. He was purple all over,” Lucianco said, adding he was not frightened as the adrenaline had kicked in. “I started to carry out what I was trained to do. I asked Daniel if he was hearing me, but got no response.”
Lucianco started doing CPR which brought up about two cups of salt water, mucus and blood and Daniel coughed. This made the teen realise his friend was still alive. “This gave me a glimmer of hope and I told Kevin to call 911 while I continued to work on him.”
Lucianco turned Daniel on his side to stop him from choking on his own blood and pulled him deeper in the boat so he would not fall out.
Heading for shore, Lucianco told 12-year-old Ian to talk to his father and see if he could get some response. All of a sudden, life flooded back into Daniel and his eyes opened wide.
“Daniel can you hear me,” Lucianco said.
“Yes mommy, yes mommy I can hear you,” replied Daniel.
“I am not your mother, do you know where you are?,” asked Lucianco.
“Yes, I am in Honduras,” he replied.
“No Daniel, you are not in Honduras,” said Lucancio and Daniel started to cry.
“You know where you at?” asked Lucancio again.
“Yes in Heaven,” replied Daniel.
“No Daniel you are not in Heaven,” said Luciano, as his friend went unconscious again.
Five hundred feet out, Daniel awoke, and Luciano again asked Daniel if he knew where he was and he responded that he did know. By this time, the crew had Daniel sitting up in the boat. Arriving near shore, Kevin wasted no time in docking, he ran the boat right up onto the ramp.
The magnitude of what had just happened hit Lucancio hard. Three nights after the incident, he had a hard time sleeping.
“Every time I closed my eyes I would see it,” he said. “I just kept replaying it over and over. I look at it now and think it could have turned out a lot worse. It could have been me, or one of the boys, I am grateful for the way the situation turned out.”
Out of hospital after two days, Daniel remembers little about the incident.
”I didn’t remember anything until I was in the ambulance,” he said. “I remembered an emergency medical technician because he is a friend. He was asking if I know where I was, what happened; where I was going and other general questions. But what took place I do not remember.”
According to Daniel, he can only assume he had a narrow escape. Being a dive master since 2005 and professional engineer, Daniel said it had been awhile since he had gone free diving. “I suppose being out of practice of not holding my breath for a long period of time deprived my brain of oxygen,” he said.
Daniel said he would try free-diving again. “It is my ‘bring up’, one thing I know and that is I will be more cautious, even though I love conch soup.”
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A very heart lifting story. This incident should inspire all those who frequently swim, fish or dive (freestyle or scuba) to make sure they are well versed in CPR as one can never be sure when a life saving experience like this one can occur. This Is a small Island on which the ocean is easily accessed. The amount of persons living on this Island and not knowing how to swim or having any knowledge of simple safety rules is unhealthlity enormous. I have been a Rescue Diver for many years and although I do not dive anymore I am still aware of the life savings skills needed in incidents such as the one which occurred in this article. I too was in a similar situation many years ago . Unfortunately the person was already deceased and at the bottom of the ocean. This did not involve a rescue but rather a recovery. Thank God this young man was able to save this man and his children were not trumatized further by having to witness their their Father die before their eyes. Luciano I admire your courage in an extremely difficult situation. You deserve to be recognized for your bravery. I encourage everyone living in the Cayman Islands to learn to swim and take a course in CPR. You never know when you may find yourself in a life and death situation.
What a hero – a teenager who is brave, level-headed and and quick to act. If I were ever in trouble in the sea, I would want Luciano nearby.
It is good to hear something positive instead of negative about today’s youth. Way to go Luciano and God bless you always. jlm
What Daniel experienced is what is known in the Free diving world as a shallow water blackout. This is a quite often lethal condition that occurs when the body comes back to shallow depths and the mammalian response causes the blood in the brain to quickly be pushed back to the rest of the body, causing a loss of consciousness similar to standing quickly and feeling faint. Had he been alone and diving, this story would have had a much more tragic ending. Great Job Luciano.