Scouts hailed as heroes
THREE Hayling Scouts have been hailed as heroes after they saved a man's life and prevented the death of a man who drowned after a late night canoeing trip becoming a double tragedy.
The three teenagers and a fellow Scout from Petersfield found a 22-year-old friend of Karl Maynard – whose body was found in Mengeham Rythe Creek on July 11 – collapsed out on the shoreline near the Billy Trail, north of Sinah Warren, three days later.
The man, who had consumed at least a bottle of vodka, was unable to move with sunset less than an hour away and the tide about to turn in Langstone Harbour.
Seventeen-year-old Jake Whistlecraft walked out to the man after he and his fellow Scouts Mike Kenny and Barnabas Pycroft spotted him around 100 yards from the shore.
When they got to him he was very worse for wear and began vomiting violently as the member of the 3rd Hayling Scouts Explorer unit tried to talk to him.
Jake said: "I managed to check that he was breathing okay after he had been sick. I checked his airways and Jake managed to roll him into a recovery position.
"He was in no position to try to get him up and he was shaking quite severely either from being cold or the drink.
"He told me that he didn't want to die and I told him that I wasn't going to let him."
Barnabus dialled 999 and an ambulance controller revealed that the Coastguard were already searching for the missing man.
He had managed to alert the emergency services to his plight, but had told them he was in Langstone Harbour, near the bridge.
Both the Coastguard and the Portsmouth RNLI were searching the top of the harbour.
The search and rescue helicopter located the boys and sent the winchman down to check out the victim.
Jake added: "I was able to tell the winchman what we had done and they put him into a harness and lifted him up and flew him to QA."
During the drama Mike and Seamus Harrison, from Petersfield, had been despatched to try to direct the ambulance towards the nearest accessible part of the shoreline.
Barnabas spoke to the man's mother to alert her to what had happened.
The 16-year-old said: "He told us his friend had died in a canoeing accident and that he just didn't want to carry on anymore.
"I ran out of credit on the phone but luckily I was able to ring his mum back the following day and speak to her after her son was discharged from hospital.
"He was a lot better and she was so grateful that we were able to help him."
Jake and his pals were suspicious when they spotted an abandoned bike by the trail and when they found an empty vodka bottle.
He added: "We had a look around and then spotted the guy. We think he had been out there for something like 45 minutes before we found him.
"About 10 minutes after we found him it started chucking it down with rain. If we hadn't got to him, I don't like to think what would have happened as he wasn't able to get up.
"It was starting to get dark and the tide was turning."
Both boys believe their Scout training helped them cope with the emergency.
Barnabus added: "It was the first time either of us had to use our first-aid training in a situation like that.
Jake said "I was a bit shocked when he started to be so sick, but then I tried to stay calm and keep talking to him as he was drifting in and out because he was so drunk.
"We all put our jumpers on him to keep him warm as you are taught to do."
Their proud scoutmaster Ian Hawke praised the quartet as heroes.
He told the Islander: "I am very proud of the boys who did exactly what they are trained to do in such an emergency.
"From what I can gather, if the boys had not found him, he could have been in a very bad way as the rescue services were looking in completely the wrong place for him and it would have been completely dark an hour later."
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Weather for Hayling
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
