[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by URY914

The sole survivor says that sometime during the night they removed thier vests and started swimming. The families are saying they don't believe him. "My son is too strong willed- he would never give up."

I have encountered hypothermic people twice during my exploits, and I can absolutely believe that a rational, intelligent person might do something totally irrational like take off their life vest and "swim for it" if they are hypothermic.

The first hypothermic guy I ever encountered was wearing a down coat, completely unzipped, and was holding his wool hat in his hand. He tried to say something to me, but was slurring his words badly... he then yelled out that his name was Blake, stumbled and fell in the snow, barfed, and collapsed. He ended up pulling through just fine, but I don't think there's any good explanation for why someone who was obviously cold would unzip their jacket and take off their hat.