U.K. Man Drowns in 18″ of Water: Police, Firefighters, Paramedics Ordered to Not Rescue
Stunning revelations revealed at a recent inquest revealed emergency workers in the U.K., including police, firefighters, and paramedics stood by while officials ascertained climbing down a 15-ft embankment was too dangerous to rescue a man lying face down in 18 inches of water.
The victim, 32-yr-old father of three, Karl Marlton, had been hit by a car on May 13, 2008, while walking along a country road. First up, paramedics, who decided it was “too dangerous” to descend the 15-ft embankment. Twenty-eight minutes later fire fighters arrived. Fire fighters were then banned using ropes or ladders after a superior did a quick “risk assessment” and determined it was “too dangerous”. The superior then requested a water rescue team whose location was 50 miles away. Ten police who were at the scene also failed to provide assistance. Relatives of Marlton arrived to find emergency workers drinking tea. It wasn’t until three hours later that Marlton’s body was retrieved from the scene.
Also learned at the inquest: police officers are no longer trained in life saving and are not required to know how to swim.
The post-mortem on Marlton revealed he died from drowning but could not determine how long the unfortunate man had been in the water.
This story is so amazing on so many levels one doesn’t know where to start. For more, and a photo of the “dangerous” 15 foot embankment, the Daily Mail has “Health and safety row over man who died in 18in of water as 999 teams were told it was too risky to rescue him.”
By LBG
Image – British Emergency Services
