If you’ve ever seen the movie Jaws, you may have asked yourself, “How would I react to a shark attack?”
For one Virginia Tech cadet, that hypothetical became a reality.
“Everyone was in panic getting on the boat, and I was like, oh my goodness, something definitely happened,” said Georgia Costain, a fifth-year member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.
What started out as a beautiful day of deep-sea snorkeling on a Hawaiian vacation in January quickly turned for Costain. While she was out snorkeling, a Galapagos shark attacked.
“I looked over to the left of me, and then the tour guide had his arm, like, not on his arm anymore,” Costain said.
As panic set in for the rest of the tour, Costain stepped up.
“Nobody is helping this guy — he’s literally bleeding out,” she said. “I asked the photographer, ‘How can I help? What can I do?’ She was like, ‘Oh, help make a tourniquet.’ All that was on the boat was this towel, rag thing. And so we tied it around his arm and we start pulling like tug-of-war.”
Thanks to her quick actions — which she attributes to her Corps of Cadets training — paramedics were able to save the guide’s arm and narrowly avoid a blood transfusion.
Her heroic actions even earned recognition from Gov. Glenn Youngkin during a visit to Blacksburg in April.
“The Corps of Cadets really emphasizes being that one person to do something that nobody else is willing to do,” Costain said. “We do a thing called T triple C — Tactical Combat Casualty Care. They teach you how to do tourniquets and stuff. I feel like that really helped me with confidence, being like, oh, I can step up. This is something that I can do.”
Since the incident, Costain has kept in touch with the tour guide, saying he has a great attitude about the attack — even making merch with the tagline:
Swim fast or arms won’t last.
But thanks to this Hokie cadet, his will.