Bob Whitney, district manager for the Eurob-odalla zone, was in Bega on Wednesday for a debriefing on the incident and said the meeting involved speaking to the officers who were on the scene and to “put in place some mechanisms to help them get over what happened”.

“The debriefing went really well, and there will be a combined debrief between the ambulance and the hospital to find out exactly what happened in our services,” he said.

Mr Whitney said those on the scene before the paramedics arrived had done everything they could.

“When the officers arrived, they found the performance of the people already at the scene doing CPR was excellent,” he said.

“Their good work gave the officers a much better opportunity to try and revive the patients.”

There were many problems facing the paramedics as far as res-

uscitation was concerned, Mr Whitney said.

“The biggest difficulty was the weather conditions: the wind, the water temperature and no light whatsoever apart from torches,” he said.

“Everything was ag-ainst the officers achieving a positive outcome.”

Mr Whitney said the two boys Riley and Travis O’Neill and their father Shane were incubated and cannulated (a needle placed in the hand or

arm through which paramedics can administer drugs and fluids).

The boys were treated at the Tathra wharf while Mr O’Neill was transported by IRB to the beach in front of the surf club.

The paramedics continued attempts to resuscitate the boys until they were put into ambulances and transferred to Bega Hospital where a helicopter was to meet them.

Mr Whitney said the boys were still unresponsive to treatment when they left the scene.

He also said there

were no vital signs on Mr O’Neill. Mr Whitney praised police who atte-nded the scene and the surf lifesavers.

“They acted appropriately and did everything that could have been expected of them and more,” he said.