TWENTY-THREE-year-old Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard Rank Wayne Paul might have been alive today, had his friends — who were on a day out with him at the creek last week Monday — not panicked and handled him improperly after he had been pulled from the creek in which he was drowning.

Retrieved from the water in an unconscious state after he had injured himself in plunging, the man was suspected to have suffered head and spinal injuries.

A post-mortem conducted on his body gave his cause of death as a fractured spine.

In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, a health worker who saw the injured man explained that if there were quick action by those who had been present at the time of the incident, the man would have lived.

Asking to remain anonymous, the health worker related that the injured man had been left in the water for a long time; and when he was pulled from the water, those who were assisting him to regain consciousness might have mishandled him, thereby causing complications with his injuries, which later resulted in him succumbing.

Wayne Paul breathed his last breath en route to the Diamond Hospital, where he was being rushed for medical attention. Friends of the man related to this publication that after he had plunged to take a swim, they saw him floating but were not aware that something was wrong, since the man is known to be a strong swimmer, coupled with the fact that he was serving in the Coast Guard Unit of the Guyana Defence Force.
By Asif Hakim