恐慌潛水員

English version

        他在海面上載沈載浮，胡亂地揮舞雙手。他吐掉呼吸用的調節器，張開嘴想吸氣，結果是喝了不少海水。我已經按壓他的潛水裝備的充氣鈕，但是不知道為什麼浮力不夠支撐他，讓他的頭部浮出水面。

        把調節器塞回他的嘴裡，但是他一直把調節器吐掉。試了幾次，他越來越驚慌，開始抓著我的手臂。很想對他大叫不要吐掉調節器，因為那是他唯一的空氣來源。可是不想冒險把自己的調節器從嘴裡拿出來。我距離他太近了，他隨時會失去理智擒抱住我。

        已經花掉太多時間，開始擔心他會嗆到水。試著讓他躺著把臉部露出水面，但是沒有成功。他抓我的手臂越來越緊。正當想不出其他辦法時，同事已經趕到，把他拖回船上。

         當這一切告一段落，我還是不停地想是哪裡做錯了。我受過水上救生員和潛水教練的訓練，應該要能自己處理這個狀況。這只不過是一般的恐慌潛水員，我已經處理過很多次了。

        回到船上後，同事找出癥結所在：裝備充氣鈕的連接管有點鬆脫。按充氣鈕只能短暫地充氣，不到一秒鐘就停止充氣了。

        除了沒有注意到裝備沒有完全充氣，我還犯了一個重大的錯誤。還有其他的方法可以讓那個潛水員浮在水面上。應該把他的配重帶拿掉，如果把數公斤重的配重帶拿掉，即使裝備沒有完全充氣，他應該也會立即浮在水面上。還可以把自己的裝備完全充氣，讓自己變成救生浮標。

        總之，我太焦慮以至於沒有想到其他的辦法，就像那個恐慌潛水員太驚慌把空氣來源吐掉一樣。以為自己已經能處理所有水中的狀況，其實，還差得遠了。 

Panic Diver

    He was waving his hands and his head was up and down at the surface. He spit out the regulator, opened his mouth, try to suck in air, but swallowed water instead. I had had pressed the inflator of his diving equipment but somehow the buoyancy was not strong enough to keep his head above the surface.

   I tried to shut the regulator back into his mouth, but he kept spitting it out. After a few tries, he was getting more panic and grabbed my arm. I wanted to shout at him for spitting out the regulator which was the only air supply he had. I did not risk to take out my regulator from my mouth. I was too close to him, and he could grapple me around the neck any second.

   I already spent too much time and worried that he was choking on water. I tried to lay him up to keep his face above the surface. I failed and he grab my arm harder and harder. When I was running out of idea, my colleague came and pull him back to the boat.

   After the drama came to an end, I still could not stop thinking of what I did wrong. I was supposed to handle this situation by myself. I was trained to be a lifeguard and a dive instructor. This was just another ordinary panic diver that I had dealt with for many times.

   My colleague figured out the root cause that made the panic diver up and down at the surface when I went back to the boat. The host connecting to the inflator was a little loose. The inflator worked for a second only when I pressed the button. Then, it stopped inflating.

   Not only I did not notice the dysfunctional inflator problem, I also made a huge mistake. There were more than one way to create buoyancy to support the panic diver. I should have taken out the  diver’s weight belt. If I had done that, the diver’s head would instantly pop out of water even his diving equipment was only partially inflated. I could also fully inflate my diving equipment so that I could have become a giant rescue buoy.

   To conclude, I was too anxious to overlook the alternatives at hand like the diver was too panic to spit out the air supply. I thought I were competent to deal all situations in water. In fact, I still have a long way to go.