FTAG 2000 said:
annie88 said:
FTAG 2000 said:
Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.
Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.
Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.
Don't know if it's true, but some reports saying that many of the passengers were still strapped in their seats underwater, which wouldn't be surprising. But take that with a grain of salt. Because we don't know.
Just a horrible, horrible thing. And the night time is making it so much harder to deal with.
Many of the people on Titanic survived the sinking but the water got them. So the cold water absolutely making this even more tragic, if that's possible.
I'm a dive instructor on the side of my day job. Just doing quick math on the water there at 35 degrees.
Anyone who survived into the water had two minutes to get their bearings before cold water shock and hypothermia started to set in. Which means loss of spatial awareness and full motor control. If they got out of the plane they had 25-30 minutes depending on body weight to get pulled out of water before succumbing to water temps.
You probably know more than I do about, but I'll give you my experience in cold water.
When I went river rafting at 17 years old in Colorado (probably close to the best physical shape of my life), I jumped in the water to help move the raft either to shore or away from shore (I can't recall) for/after lunch. It didn't take anywhere near 2 minutes for the shock of the cold water to start to affect me -- probably more like 45 seconds. And that was without the absolute shock of a plane crash or similar event, a fall, etc., and no injuries. When the water temp, which was likely far higher than 35 degrees at the time -- probably in the high 40s at the absolute coldest -- started getting to me, I was mostly unable to do much of anything. I could still maintain myself in the water (i.e. tread), hold on to the raft, but that was about it. I needed help to pull myself into the boat, and 2 buddies did just that (thus, I'm thinking we were leaving after lunch, but it doesn't matter). I'm pretty sure I was able to speak but had I gone the full 2 minutes, I'm not sure I would have been.
No one knows the power of a) water and b) COLD water unless they've been in it. Further, there's a tremendous difference between being in water in temps in the 60s (potentially VERY cold swimming pool in the early spring/late fall) and 50s (oceans/some lakes), and even a bigger difference between the 50s and lower. Its sort of like a logarithmic relationship rather than a linear one. While I have no doubt survival instincts and adrenaline would buy them a lot of time, you have to experience all that to believe it.
