Phoenixville, PA- For the second time in the past two months, the Smith Mountain Lake Marine Fire Rescue squad located a drowning victim with their VideoRay Pro 3 GTO. The victim was a 20 year old male located in the James River in Amherst County, Virginia on Sunday, June 22, 2008.
Working out of Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, the team came to own their VideoRay equipment, including two VideoRay GTO's, a SeaSprite Scanning Sonar, and a BlueView P-450 High Definition Imaging Sonar through the generous donation of the Walter and Martha Curt Foundation. The Foundation was formed last year when two of Mr. Curt's friends, including David Reynolds, perished on the lake after a boating accident. VideoRay was immediately contacted an on the scene within days of the initial call to deliver the ROV's and aid in the search effort of the victims. After the victims were found, the Smith Mountain Lake Marine Fire Rescue squad took possession of the ROVs and has since put them to good use.
Allen Cook, Assistant Chief of Smith Mountain Lake Marine Fire Rescue issued this statement about yesterday's events:
"Earlier today we (Smith Mountain Lake Fire and Rescue) were called out to assist Amherst County with a drowning on the James River. A Bedford County agency, Big Island was initially contacted along with the Bedford County SOC (Special Operations Command) swift water rescue team, Big Island then called for divers, this location was approximately 60 miles from our location. We have been to this area several times for drownings or stranded kayakers."
"Information we received: 20 year old male jumped off of an Appalachian Trail bridge that crossed the James River, surfaced and then went back down and hasn't been seen again, took caller 20 minutes to reach a phone."
"Once on scene our Dive Team loaded equipment onto Zodiacs that were standing by. The boats then took the divers out to the last seen area. Diana Rainville was again operating the VideoRay equipment and located the victim in less than 10 minutes. Diana then donned dive gear and joined diver David Scoggins to make the body recovery, team member Greg Waters took control of the VideoRay while the divers were making the recovery. Other team members on scene were George Tawes, Jack Gautier, Jeff Pauley, Travis Talley, and Ernie Powers."
"Body was found in approximate 20 feet of water, two feet of visibility at the most, downed trees, logs and large rocks in the area where body was found. This is a large river with a current. Our first time using the VideoRay in a current."
"We have been in this area before for drownings and searched for days before recovering victims, again we credit the VideoRay for a fast recovery."
Read the WDBJ 7 News Release
ABOUT VIDEORAY
VideoRay now has far more Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) in service around the world than any manufacturer, and is delivering additional ROVs at an increasing rate. Weighing just 8 pounds and starting at $5995 USD, VideoRays can be equipped with video cameras, sonar, positioning systems or other accessories, and are used for underwater surveys, offshore inspections, search and recovery, homeland defense, science, fish farming and a range of applications in underwater environments.
For further VideoRay information:
Brian Luzzi brian.luzzi@videoray.com
Sales & Marketing Coordinator
VideoRay LLC
Phone: 610.458.3015
www.videoray.com |
A Smith Mountain Lake Fire Rescue Vessel
Diana Rainville, Smith Mountain Lake Marine Fire Rescue VideoRay Operator
|
