Lost at Sea (Full Episode) | Extreme Rescues

this time i thought it was the end where is my son i couldn't find him when you're on a mountain bike you're kind of on the edge dead or unconscious i don't know now the worst case scenario was aaron dying in that cave we cannot afford the wrong estimation [Music] [Music] this bustling town sits on the pacific coast its large harbor and access to the open ocean makes it the sport fishing capital of costa rica and a hot spot for tourists looking for sun sea and sand alexis as note presses record on our waterproof camera to capture some vacation memories it was definitely a party atmosphere on the boat alexis is on a large catamaran traveling from eradura to the white sand beaches of tortuga a 17-mile journey across the gulf of nicoya 109 people are on board including adriana baracal and her eight-year-old son sean everybody's you know enjoying the moment the weather was beautiful it was a gorgeous day [Music] marine electrician aracelio garcia is traveling with his wife and five-year-old son it was a beautiful day but when we were halfway to tortuga it all of a sudden changed it started getting very rough and the boat would just go up being in the boating business for 25 years i said to myself something's going on [Applause] the passengers have no idea that below them the waves have smashed through windows in the boat's hall the sea is flooding in and the boat begins to list when they started handing out the life jackets i became really worried we might be going swimming oh my god [Music] without the blink of an eye the boat starts going down into the water it happened so fast oh my god i thought it was yet [Applause] in just 90 seconds the catamaran is gone sinking to the sea floor 500 feet below [Applause] the passengers find themselves stranded in open ocean nine miles from the closest choreographer i think she's dead i think he's dead [Music] i think he's dead [Music] one man is dead others are missing [Applause] imagine a hundred people scrambling everywhere with bottles of liquor and equipment and things i kept looking for his head and i didn't i just didn't see it ah where's my son i couldn't find him there is one glimmer of hope marine electrician araciello garcia managed to call his friend and colleague back at eradura marina right before going under you say please help me help me the ball sink i'm here with my family i can do nothing and the call is end word of the disaster spreads to other boats in the marina i told my mate just get ready because what we're gonna find is it's nothing we did before help is on its way but the rescue boats don't know the exact location of the sunken catamaran the ocean is so big [Music] you feel helpless i'm sorry this just makes me live that moment of horror and terror that we went through adrienne's eight-year-old son sean has now been missing for eight minutes as more time passes it becomes a struggle to stay above the rough waves with the hot sun beating down if the passengers don't get help soon many could drown or succumb to exposure i started looking at the sky and said god i don't want to die like this you know this is not the way i want to die [Music] [Applause] nine miles off the costa rican coast [Applause] a waterproof camera captures a tourist boat capsizing with 109 people on board not all have survived others are i missing see my son hiya i couldn't find him by now the survivors have been in the water for over 10 minutes praying that help will soon find them looking around i can see him where is the boat you're in the middle of the ocean nothing around i started really thinking this is bad [Music] 15 minutes after the boat sank by chance a passing freighter spots the stranded passengers [Music] the minute that everybody saw the boat you could tell that that restored hope in the group [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the freighter stops 500 feet away our group was oh we should try and swim towards the freighter but then that quickly appeared to be futile because i think when you're in the middle of the ocean you don't realize how far away something is only a few passengers are strong enough to swim through the rough waves to the safety of the freighter leaving more than 80 behind 20 minutes after the boat sank exhaustion sets in i was very drained very extremely tired [Music] i had faith that sean's swimming abilities were going to save him what i didn't have faith was mother nature and how she has no bias against anyone without help soon many could lose their fight against the rough waves [Music] this chip started like [Music] the international signal for sos now the boats from the marina know exactly where to go we totally bought our game and going straight to this play [Applause] is [Music] pablo's is the first fishing boat on the scene looking on one side like 50 or 60 person everybody say help me help me me friend i have children [Applause] i've never been so happy to see probably in my life and got the rob jump into the water and when i go close and tell the guy okay take this behind me and pull 17 or 18 person when i got on that boat i felt like god gave me a second chance the pablo can only fit 20 people dozens remain in the water everybody was desperately trying to get on that boat seeing them float away was like an eternity to me i didn't know if i would ever see sean again and i'm pretty much left by myself in the in the ocean wondering if there was any more boats coming 40 long minutes after the boat sank the only thing you can see was people raising hands asking for help he threw us a rope so that's when you knew like okay this is the boat that's taking us [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes that's right [Music] one two three okay um [Music] you need help [Music] captain mimo pulls another 17 victims out of the water for those left behind their only hope is if other fishing boats reach them and terrifyingly adriana's eight-year-old son sean is still missing i uh i just didn't know what to do i didn't know he could survive that what we had gone through [Music] nine miles off the costa rican coast a catamaran sinks with 109 people on board after an hour in rough conditions help arrives but nearly half of the shipwrecked passengers still need rescue [Music] and one mother doesn't know the fate of her eight-year-old son my first question to memo is to find out where sean was [Music] they go on to the radio other people are trying to console me and then in about five minutes they said sean was safe shawn was pulled down with the sinking boat it's a miracle he survived i got caught under the sunroof i was under the water for like a minute and then it took me five big breaststrokes to get to the surface makes me feel like an angel was watching me and now i'm thankful that angel was watching me because if they weren't i would have died [Music] but not everyone is so fortunate three tourists die in the tragedy i look at my son and i say what a strong boy he is because i can't imagine what he went through paul does hate thank god i'm here and i'm telling you the story [Music] this small town is 3 000 feet up in the sierra nevada mountains a cliff top playground for experienced mountain bikers when you're on a mountain bike and you're in downeyville you're kind of in heaven it's like kind of the mecca a lot of rocky areas and you're kind of on the edge you've got to be prepared roger fuji gears up for a day of riding alongside ericsson alvarez and adrian merced his name's adrian but we all call him dre ever since i've known him he's been an extreme guy mine when i turn it on it might be reports dre and roger wear cameras to capture the excitement all right let's do it you're in the middle of a mountain just riding a bike doing what you really love we talk pretty personal stuff and dre mentioned his wife jane was was pregnant he was super excited i was thinking i'm gonna enjoy this with dre cause he's gonna go all out that's like a death cookie right there boom okay this will just take us down we did the hard part already you know the hard technical part when you really had to concentrate on not worth the uh approaching the end of their run roger turns off his head cam i'm not trying to kill my battery going up this hill dre's camera keeps rolling huh so hey uh dre has plunged more than 200 feet straight down the cliff side slamming his head in the process he's fallen out of sight of his friends we're calling his name for like i say a good eight minutes calling him calling dre drake where are you where are you cuz he's not answering no one answers dead or unconscious i don't know [Applause] in the sierra nevada mountains mountain biker dre merced has plunged 200 feet down the side of a cliff his friends have no idea where he's fallen thinking that he might have died was one of the scariest moments of my life i can't believe he just told me he's gonna be a dad and that this is really happening [Music] after a while i finally heard him there was blood on his forehead [Music] you can crack this helmet and told him don't move you know we're going to get you some help [Music] by the 911 fire department depending on the significance of the injury the survivable rate goes down especially if they're bleeding internally or externally [Applause] we just basically load up and we head in the trail as dre's friends examine his wounds they turn off his body cam it's an agonizing wait for help the fireman's route is a 25-minute trek across the mountain cliffs upon arrival is basically oh this is going to be a bad one after a medical assessment roger turns his head cam on yeah all right say hi to the cameras right jason he's complaining about back injuries damage to his spine could result in paralysis there's a risk dre could never walk or ride again my concern is unseen injuries like internal injuries head injuries if dre has severe internal injuries it could lead to organ failure at any moment dre's condition could turn from potentially life changing to life threatening this individual needs to get into an ambulance we need to do it now the helicopter is the fastest most efficient in this circumstance you're saving a lot of time he was under the canopy of the trees and it would be unsafe to raise him through the tree branches their only option is to carry dre 30 feet to a clearing but moving him comes with enormous risks you want zero movement in their neck otherwise they could be paralyzed root is a sheer cliff oh yeah give me this bag covered in loose rock that could give way under the rescuer's feet [Music] i want everybody to find a nice level spot to make sure your footing is really good the shale's really really nasty stuff and we're going to go from one person to the next i don't want anybody moving their feet that's where we have the most chance for them to fall out of our heads and i know you don't want to go anymore right all right let me know when you guys are ready okay one two three [Music] let me get down it's painstaking progress the slightest little movement could ruin it forever [Music] slow movements are safe for dre's spine but if he's bleeding internally every extra second they take reduces his chances of survival [Music] all right got him okay [Music] that's probably good in that flat little spot just set him gently down to the ground please but you can hear the chopper coming in are you coming downstream now 45 minutes after you first fell the helicopter hoist stray off the cliff his future is now in their hands we said a prayer and said spray that dre's gonna walk away from this and he'll be riding with us again you're on record hey here i am at uh hospital medina so you can see my battle scar here so brazing's on my lower back one of my biggest fears was the severity of the injury am i going to be able to actually take care of my kid am i going to be able to hold my child when he's born it's the wifey taking care of me six months later after multiple surgeries on his leg and shoulder incredibly dre recovers i was able to hold you know my son and able to be the kind of father i wanted to be [Music] i'm incredibly grateful for being able to walk out of such an incident it's almost like you're given a second chance as the sun rises a panicked call is received by the slovenian cave search and rescue team the first information for this mission was that incept is an injured person the call is coming from the prima donna cave system its only entrance is near the summit of the 6 000 foot mountain it is hard accessible it is very cold like 2 degrees celsius and it is very narrow the victim 20 year old cave explorer aaron paul is part of a british university caving expedition [Music] a rock has fallen six feet and struck him in the back he can't move his legs suggesting spinal damage and severe internal injuries there are 1 000 feet of vertical climbs and narrow squeezes between him and any hope of survival aaron could not move the chief concern was that someone staying immobile in a cave as cold as the one in slovenia is hypothermia 7 a.m cameras turn on rescuers prepare to head towards the cave entrance before it's too late in the deep places of prima donna the simple fact is that help is really several hours away the worst case scenario was aaron dying in that cave while we were waiting for the rescue to arrive deep beneath the surface of a slovenian mountain british caver aaron paul lies severely injured and hypothermic while his friends try to sit tight this was serious you have to wait it's almost like an endurance test a helicopter takes first responders to the cave's only entrance the position of entrance of the cave is between top on the bottom of vertical cliff the helicopter couldn't touch the ground because there was no flat surface to land it takes two hours navigating narrow caves and sheer cliffs before finally the team reaches their patient thankfully aaron's still alive we were shaken but relieved i felt that he was in the best possible hands first we have to do all the first aid and after that the doctor is in charge how the patient will be moved blankets reduced the risk of aaron succumbing to hypothermia but the medical assessment reveals his back injuries are worse than the rescuers ever expected he can move his legs and not feel his legs we suspect a spine injury it is very important that we put the victim into a stretcher the backboard stabilizes his spine reducing risk of further damage but its size and rigid shape drastically slows their ascent through the narrow caves as time passes tissues and nerves around aaron's spinal injury are deteriorating left too long without specialized medical care this can lead to paralysis or worse he can get some neurological problems the worst outcome of spine injuries is death we need to do fast but be careful and safe after two hours the team have gone just 100 feet and worse is up ahead we had several different locations in the cave it was needed to do the widening to put the victim in a stretcher through you can work only with a big hammer in your hands which physically is very tough three hours in the rescuers have traversed less than 200 feet of cave the slow progress starts to affect the patient he has pains and i was really bored every time i think about about time time is life if we just continue manually with bare hands and hammers it would last days the rescuers are forced to use their last resort explosives the use of explosive in rescue operation is demanding decision get this wrong and the explosion could bury aaron and his rescuers alive we are afraid but we must focus and do the best deep within a slovenian mountain caver aaron paul puts his life in the hands of a rescue team there was a fear that maybe he would lose the the use of his legs to get aaron to the urgent medical care he desperately needs his rescuers are forced to use explosives to blast their way through the narrow caves it was quite dangerous because the rock was not solid we cannot afford the wrong estimation fuzzy mini [Music] yeah the dynamite has worked first [Music] [Music] nine hours into the rescue the team still has 750 feet of narrow passageways to navigate at five more points they have to blast their way out we didn't realize at the beginning how tough it will be tempers begin to fray 18 hours into the rescue they are within 100 feet of the cave's entrance it was very late we were all very tired one vertical bit and he was out from the cave rescue is agonizingly close but dragging aaron vertically puts more pressure on his already damaged spine [Music] it's a risk they have to take if we make some mistakes he can be paralyzed starving we have a one person who is monitoring the stretcher if they have to stop he just screams stop please 19 long hours after the rescuers first reached their patient an army helicopter collects aaron from the precipice [Music] we fulfill our task he was on a safe way to the hospital we cannot do miracles but we really do the best what we can at the emergency room scans reveal fractures to aaron's lower five vertebrae incredibly he's able to fully recover it's now been almost three years since i fractured my spine and i'm caving again to the same level something that i love and enjoy i owe to those four yard members my life i'll be forever grateful when somebody calls us heroes it doesn't change anything once you're in the cave there is no heroes so you just do your job [Music] you

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 607,432

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, culture, documentary, perpetual planet nat geo, photography, full episode, national geographic full episodes, nat geo 101, national geographic channel, discovery channel, survival stories, survival videos, documentary 2022, survival tactics, documentary history, documentary national geographic, survival of the fittest

Id: khyuH_QfoWU

Length: 44min 24sec (2664 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022