Little Rock Airman saves woman from drowning

LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. (AFNS) --  “Help!” “That scream was even more chilling than the water I and my friend were in,” said Senior Airman Colton Lien, a 19th Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordinance disposal technician.

It was June 25, a normal Saturday of kayaking at the Ouachita River Whitewater Park in Malvern, Arkansas, for Lien and his friends when they witnessed a woman fall out her inner tube into the middle of the river. “She was with a group of people in approximately 10 tubes,” he said. “All the tubes were tied together, so the river continued to carry them down stream after she fell.”

Lien, who is also a certified canoe instructor, knew that something needed to be done immediately. The woman fell into a suck hole, which is like a whirlpool in the river. Once a swimmer becomes stuck in a suck hole, it is extremely dangerous to be in and difficult to swim out. He and his friends paddled their kayaks toward the woman as they alerted others they passed to get help.

Once they reached her, they noticed that she was spinning. She would go underwater for five to 20-second intervals. Lien, his friends and another paddler, who came to help, tried for minutes to grab her with a rope, catch her with their paddles and reach for her from the kayaks, but nothing worked.

Eventually, the woman became unconscious.

“I was nervous, but I didn’t want to panic,” Lien said. “Plans A, B, nor C worked. We were about to attempt plan D with hopes that we didn’t have to attempt plan E, which was jumping in there myself and getting her.”

Lien surfed closer to the woman and finally, he bumped her body out of the whirlpool with his kayak. He grabbed her and pulled her body beside a large canoe that one of the paddlers was in. Though there was a small sigh of relief, she was still unconscious.

After moments of deliberation, Lien paddled the woman to shore as one person held her body and two others gave her breaths.

“It felt like forever getting back to the bank, but I think it was actually 10 minutes,” Lien said. “Reaching the bank was the easy part. When we got there, I checked for a pulse; there was none. Other people came to help with giving the woman chest compressions. Within about 15 seconds, she regained consciousness and her pulse.”

Lien stayed with the woman for an additional 15 minutes as she recovered. When the paramedics arrived, they took the woman and continued care. Lien said he walked away from the crowd for a few minutes to take in what just happened.

“I don’t feel like a hero,” he said. “We did what needed to be done. It was definitely a team effort. We didn’t have time to panic because she didn’t have time for us to panic. We had to move and move fast.”

Lien credited his training as an EOD technician to his fast reaction to the emergency situation. EOD members focus on the protection of personnel and property, with emphasis on personnel first. He leaned on his water safety knowledge and training to quickly assess the situation and lead the others to making the right decisions that ultimately saved a woman’s life.

“Even if you are a good swimmer, wear a life jacket in deep water, and don’t paddle alone. Those tips could be the difference between life and death,” he said.

 

 

Tuber separate from her party and floated into a hydraulic in the middle of the river, known (unfortunately) to locals as the "Suck Hole." The hydraulic is relatively shallow and very sticky. It can be difficult to swim out either side due to a strong jet of current either side of the hole. Paddlers typically avoid playing here. The tuber did not have a life jacket and unknowingly dropped into the hydraulic.

Luckily a group of paddlers were surfing about 30 yards away. They immediately recognized the danger and ferried over. All were in short playboats. Two experienced boaters, a kayaker and open-boater, attempted to surf across the hydraulic and make contact with the victim. The victim panicked and was recirculated 10+ times. They could not make physical contact and had difficulty predicting when the victim would recirculate. As the hole is in the middle of the river, it was difficult to reach with a rope and only one throw rope was close by. Other paddlers in the area realized what was occurring and prepared to help once the victim left the hydraulic.

The victim lost consciousness and became limp. The kayaker paddled to the nearest eddie and began to call for help to live-bait the victim out. The OC1 paddler managed to time the victim's recirculation properly and rammed her out of the hydraulic. Victim was beginning to turn blue. The paddlers managed to get her to shore within 4 or 5 minutes and performed rescue breaths on her while the group paddled her over. she had no pulse. After 20 seconds of CPR on the bank, the victim regained a pulse and slowly came to. Once she regained consciousness, the scene was turned over to local rescue operators.

This rescue was a "right time, right place" rescue. Had the victim not been tubing on a busy weekend for the Rockport ledge, it could easily have been fatal. Nearly every paddler in the water was required for a successful recovery. The victim was large and not wearing a PFD. Search and rescue personnel could not have handled the situation without Good Samaritan paddlers recognizing the danger and acting decisively. It is always best to keep an eye on the Suck Hole and have a rope handy in the future.