Mysterious death and injury of two military recruits in Staten Island public pool

At about 8:30 a.m.on Wedesday, July 13, 2011, two young men, 21, were pulled unconscious from the shallow end of Lyons Pool in the Thompkinsville section of the borough of New York City's Staten Island. Bohdan Vitenko was declared dead at the hospital and Jonathan Proce, a city lifeguard at another pool, is in serious condition yet still alive.

According to investigators, they appeared to be testing their ability to remain underwater when they lost consciousness. Vitenko aspired to be a Navy Seal and Proce was hoping to join an elite group of Air Force pararescue jumpers.

theoriginalgreenwichdiva.com...
Witnesses said Bohdan Vitenko along with Jonathan Proce and two other friends were participating in a Navy Seal type exercise ... Reports say the men, who were newcomers to the pool, were seen in the last couple of days doing sit-ups and other strenuous exercises underwater. Witnesses said just before the accident the four men were doing some sort of underwater breath-holding exercise. It is believed that Proce was an Air Force recruit who was hoping to join the Battlefield Airmen fighting force.

www.nypost.com...
It's not clear if the duo was following an official training program, or if they had devised their own workout, said Lt. Col. Robert Roy, head of Air Force recruiting in New York. About 20 people were swimming in the pool, which opened at 7 am and was staffed with lifeguards, when Proce and Vitenko were plucked from a far corner.
One of the uninjured men who was training was also an Air Force recruit, Roy said.

This appears to be just a tragic accident. The mystery is, why didn't the two lifeguards in this pool notice what was going on? And how is that the two unidentified and uninjured companions didn't intervene? And why haven't they been publicly interviewed? Was this just some sort of macho "I can hold my breath longer than you can" contest gone wrong, or were they being challenged to take this risk by their military recruiter--the unmentioned fourth person at the scene? Is that why the life guards weren't watching--because they thought the exercises were being overseen by another authority figure? Is the media helping to cover up the fact that this was in fact a military accident? If so, there should be a military investigation and punishment for the officer-in-charge. I smells me a cover-up.


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I'm not sure who you are referring to as the mysterious fourth person at the scene

"There were two friends who were here with them at the time who were swimming doing laps and not participating in whatever they were doing," said Benepe.

Unfortunately, this seems to be just a tragic accident:

According to the U.S. Naval Safety Center, hyperventilating or taking shallow breaths before submerging under water can deprive the brain of oxygen and disable the physiological triggers which typically produce the sensation of drowning, and bring people to the surface. The blackout happens without warning, and victims often they show no obvious signs of distress.

www.silive.com...

IF either of the two had signed their enlistment papers and taken the oath, and IF either of the other two uninjured was there as part of his official duties as a recruiter, then this should be treated as a military training accident, and should be subject to an official military investigation.

During training, Seals will "go for the blackout" as it's known, but they have instructors standing by to pull them from the water. Blackout is very common when holding your breath underwater, and if you don't recognize it in time to surface, you pass out.