2 American Navy Seals are declared deceased today after one fell into the Gulf of Aden and the second one jumped in in an attempt to rescue.
I live in a landlocked country. Never really experienced oceans or the water.
The 2 seals fell during the night time. Pitch black. But couldn’t they just yell and the other members could immediately shine a flashlight on them? I know I am missing something here.
Why are chances of surviving very slim when you fall into the ocean? I would assume you can still swim. Is the main cause of death that you will be drifted away by the ocean waves and cannot be located?
Would chances of survival significantly increase if you fell into the ocean during daytime? Surely even with the naked eye you can still see the victim before they are carried off by ocean waves?
Thank you.
In: Planetary Science
Here’s a [link to a video](https://youtu.be/aoXJfuPaFF8?si=uUc-EeelOrU7-7to) that basically explains why you would be very difficult to find and some of the steps the USCG would take to recover your body… I mean *rescue* you.
The ocean is extremely fucking big and exhausting. Every moment you spend in it you are being constantly moved around by entire lakes of water shifting individually in towering waves. Sometimes, the ocean itself is just immediately lethal, or it’s happyhappyhappy chill time. Ships are massive, powerful pieces of unthinkable engineering to withstand ocean storms and the kinds of waves and forces (oceans just regularly have storms and MASSIVE waves inside of them).
It’s not just a big pool. Your time is finite once in the water, you have to stay swimming and stay FINDABLE, otherwise you’re lost in the densest, thickest, most dangerous forest there is. It’s very hard to get small rescue craft into fucked up waves and situations, a helicopter can’t always operate like that either.
Those seals fell off trying to board another ship in a hostile manner. That’s a super difficult, chaotic thing to do. A matter of minutes in the ocean and waves can very seriously dislocate you, and once you’re lost… It’s hard to find a little blue dude in the big blue ocean. Especially at rough seas at night. Hit your head on the hull of something or get some water in your lungs with a bunch of gear and shit on when you can barely swim, or get a tube pulled at the wrong moment during a dive, and you’re FUCKED. There are special teams of search and rescue swimmers and divers for these ordeals because it’s so difficult. The water is a natural place for humans but it should be given more respect than fire.
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet….. Hypothermia
You can still get hypothermia in 75 degree water and die.
Just takes longer than being in Titanic water temps.
Another thing that i haven’t seen mentioned is cold water shock.
If you fully immerse yourself in cold water (i.e. jumping straight into water) you will go into shock within the first minute or so. This can force you to breathe in at an inappropriate moment if you’re diving under to save someone. At which point you will lose any bouyancy you had from your lungs and go to the bottom.
This is why if you get training for sea survival, step#1 is to just try and float there until the shock has passed.
The thing about the ocean is that it can very easily appear safe when it’s not. Even in a seemingly calm sea state there could be currents just below the surface that make swimming impossible. You tire and eventually drown. It’s very sneaky.
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