HKA CCM drowning

[Killaroo]

A 27-year-old flight attendant fell unconscious in a Maldives swimming pool and was sent back to Hong Kong for treatment yesterday.His family fears he will remain in a vegetative state. He has been unconscious since the accident.Hong Kong Airlines flight attendant Calvin Yim arrived at Male, the capital of the Maldives, after working on a flight there last week.While awaiting another operation flight back to Hong Kong, Yim and eight to 10 other cabin crew members joined a one-day tour to Club Med Kani, a resort with water sports and a private beach operated by Club Med, last Friday. The group sailed to Kani, which is 20 kilometers away from Male, on Friday morning for the US$120 (HK$942) tour.His companions said Yim planned to learn snorkeling that day. Lifeguards found him unconscious afterward in the resort's pool, which is 130 centimeters deep. Emergency resuscitation failed to revive him and he was transferred to a hospital in Male after an hour's journey.

Sources said paramedics recorded Yim's pulse once but breathing stopped during the transfer to the hospital.

Although doctors managed to keep him alive, he remained unconscious after suffering from hypoxia in the brain.

The airline informed Yim's relatives of his condition and they flew to Male immediately.

The airline also arranged an air ambulance to send Yim and his relatives back to Hong Kong. They arrived at 4am yesterday.Yim's relatives said the airline promised to pay for all of Yim's medical costs, including the air ambulance, but changed its mind yesterday, claiming that the accident happened outside the hotel which the airline had arranged for its staff. The airline told his family that the company would only subsidize his medical costs of HK$93,600.Hong Kong Airlines confirmed the accident but said it could not reveal any more information as Male police are investigating the case. Yim's mother, in her 60s, quoted doctors as saying Yim was underwater for too long and his brain was damaged."The doctor said he has zero chance of recovering and he's in vegetative state now," she said tearfully. "He asked me to be psychologically prepared. "He said my son still has a heart beat but suffers from brain stem death. He said they can't do much to save him."

The mother said Yim was his only son and she was a single mother.

She said Yim joined the cabin crew two years ago and earned a stable income, which made her a proud mom.Paul Law Siu-hung of the International Professional Insurance Consulting Association suggested cabin crew members buy a separate year-round insurance package if they often take part in outdoor activities while travelling.

Fears for flight attendant after swimming accident - The Standard (http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=196875)



The young man has now passed away.

Such a caring organisation.

[mngmt mole]

A bit hazy on the details, but I seem to recall a CX incident a year or two ago, where a flight attendant became unwell/died enroute to HK, and the aircraft diverted to somewhere in one of the "Stans". The flight attendant was left in a hospital there. The real story was that CX refused to pay or facilitate his repatriation to HK. Again, I'm not certain of the details, but I remember being appalled at the complete lack of empathy and concern CX showed towards the individual and his /her family. Perhaps someone with a better recollection of the facts can expand on this. Cxit.

[Klimax]

A bit hazy on the details, but I seem to recall a CX incident a year or two ago, where a flight attendant became unwell/died enroute to HK, and the aircraft diverted to somewhere in one of the "Stans". The flight attendant was left in a hospital there. The real story was that CX refused to pay or facilitate his repatriation to HK. Again, I'm not certain of the details, but I remember being appalled at the complete lack of empathy and concern CX showed towards the individual and his /her family. Perhaps someone with a better recollection of the facts can expand on this. Cxit.

I worked for Cathay Pacific Airways for 4.5 years and wouldn't be surprised at all - if CX would leave behind a wounded employee. It's really not a good company at all.

[Sqwak7700]

130 cm deep? I don’t get it. That’s waist deep unless you are 8years old. Hopefully the hotel has video surveillance of the pool. I would suspect foul play or even suicide. Pretty hard to drown in a pool where you can just stand up. Or maybe did he dive in and hit his head? Very strange.

Terrible treatment from the employer, but sadly not surprising at all. I’m amazed, with any airline, that employees still have any loyalty towards their employer. You are just a number and a tool, and you are treated as such at the first inconvenient instance. Let it be a lesson to all the “team” cheerleaders. Your “team” leaders wouldn’t piss on you if you were burning.

[Dawn Patrol]

130 cm deep? I don’t get it. That’s waist deep unless you are 8years old. Hopefully the hotel has video surveillance of the pool. I would suspect foul play or even suicide. Pretty hard to drown in a pool where you can just stand up. Or maybe did he dive in and hit his head? Very strange.




You'd be surprised how little water a non-swimmer can drown in. I was a lifeguard for many years and on numerous occasions had to rescue adults in waist deep water...

[mngmt mole]

130 cm deep? I don’t get it. That’s waist deep unless you are 8years old. Hopefully the hotel has video surveillance of the pool. I would suspect foul play or even suicide. Pretty hard to drown in a pool where you can just stand up. Or maybe did he dive in and hit his head? Very strange.

Terrible treatment from the employer, but sadly not surprising at all. I’m amazed, with any airline, that employees still have any loyalty towards their employer. You are just a number and a tool, and you are treated as such at the first inconvenient instance. Let it be a lesson to all the “team” cheerleaders. Your “team” leaders wouldn’t piss on you if you were burning.

Funny, the Prancing Carrot never seems to realize that...

[Below the glide]

The young man has now passed away.

Such a caring organisation.

Fact.... the company did pay for all expenses and repatriation to HKG...

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/2000x1117/799fdc1d_57b6_46b5_bab3_fef3a63f5abb_c5cb8928f7aa4935ef51c0d 33708dfdfa0acc8d7.jpeg


Letter from the President

[ROW_BOT]

Having been shamed into it. As usual.
That’s if this is even ‘fact’. Could be bare faced lies.

[unstableapproach]

what below the glide said.
no idea what agenda you are pursuing rowbot. I can only hazard a guess.

FWIW the company has been actively liaising with all affected staff and more than adequately taken care of all expenses and has set up a hotline for staff who need counselling. Several cabin crew have used the service already.
There is a very touching and discreet memorial to Calvin set up over in the AFFC and his family have already paid it a visit.

using the death of a young man to post untrue insinuations on a public forum is deeply unpleasant.

[ROW_BOT]

You people will never get it. You are a pair of slobbering sycophants.
The Standard published an article - linked to in the OP - wherein the MOTHER of the dead young man stated that HKA had at first told her they’d ‘pay for all medical expenses’ but later told her they would pay no more than 96K HKD. That probably wouldn’t even cover the cost of his repatriation flight.
Now they/you say they’re paying for everything? Why? What changed?
Public pressure is what changed their minds. Their first instinct was to save their cash and let the mother pick up the whole tab - after all they said, the accident happened off the hotel premises, so ‘not covered by insurance’ and they’d be damned if they’d pay. He obviously deserved his fate, and it was just tough titty for him and his mum. And every other employee sent off to a foreign land on company business should take note!
What you buggers fail to understand is that others see this forced and belated change of heart for what it is - sheer cowardice, an attempt at face saving, from an arrogant and tone deaf employer.
And this is NOT the first time they’ve had to reverse their hardline ****ty attitudes. The same thing happened when they fired the Steward who refused to carry a drunk and abusive ‘friend of the CEO’. The HKG public shamed them again.

Theyll try any sh1tty scam they think they can get away with, they foist bull crap on their staff every day. The only thing that gives them pause is the threat of exposure in the media. Only then do they miraculously develop a bleeding heart.

i won’t believe they paid a penny over that 96K until I see the mother say they did, in the HKG media.

[Sqwak7700]

You'd be surprised how little water a non-swimmer can drown in. I was a lifeguard for many years and on numerous occasions had to rescue adults in waist deep water...

Oh I believe you. But I don’t think we are talking about a non-swimmer. Part cabin crew training is pulling another adult through the water. Still remember my pool training with the cabin crew, it was quite fun.

And I don’t think non swimmers sign up for snorkelling classes. I’m thinking swimming is a pre-requisite to learning how to snorkel.

So so my question still stands. I wonder what really happened in that waist deep water.

[piccadillysquared]

Sadly too many of us have been in the pool for the EP’s to witness the swimming standards that are deemed passable. If the requirements were upheld I doubt if 50% of the CC at CX or HKA as I understand it would be flying. Be it distance of swimming competency, the ability to assist someone into the raft let alone CPR or basic first aid. (I’ve still not met ONE CC who can tell me what a defibrillator does!!)

I was told that the “lifeguards” at the public beaches only have demonstrate competency in max depth waist deep water. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Under the right circumstances even a competent swimmer can drown a small body of water. But what reeks here is the airline’s despicable lack of support let alone minimal human decency. They wipe their noses with far lesser amounts of money through pure incompetence & mismanagement, let alone corporate “team building” weekends away. Disgraceful.