Why NFL PLayers Most Likely Can't Survive In The Ocean

By: | WSPA-TV
Published: March 04, 2009

For four days, the Coast Guard has scoured the waters off of Tampa Florida looking for any sign of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley.
Their friend Nick Schulyer was rescued after just two days at sea. His doctors say it's a miracle he's alive considering the men were in 63 degree water for so long.
Spartanburg paramedic Timothy Hancock is on the Specialized Rescue Team and says, "The water is going to pull the heat away from the body so it doesn't take long for you to become hypothermic."
He says anytime you are in water below 95 degrees for several hours you risk hypothermia.
"If you are in the Bering strait and you hit that water its probably only going to take you ten minutes and your body will shut down completely. If you are in the summertime in Florida and the temperature is 80 or 90 degrees it might take a day or two."
Experts say in the conditions the three men were in, hypothermia would have started to set in within two hours of them being in the water and within 7 hours they may have been unconscious. By forty hours in the water experts say they are most likely dead.
Hancock says, "Initially it is going to start hurting and then honestly they'll start to feel absolutely nothing and they'll actually think their body is warm and they'll think that their body is okay because their mind is telling them everything is okay because their mind is shutting down."
Hancock says it's a tough decision rescuers have to make to call off the search, but the chances of finding the men alive is slim to none.
He says, "If they are alive it is by the grace of god and pure miracle."
He says now hopefully for the families sake they'll at least find the bodies.
Here's what you need to know about surviving hypothermic conditions.
Remember it can happen in any water below 95 degrees and hypothermia can set in 25 times faster in water than it can on land.
iI you think you are becoming hypothermic make sure you have a life vest on so you can float.
Curl your body. Don't try to swim to stay warm because that will actually make you lose heat faster. For more information click here.