Pipeline strikes again.
On Sunday, Brazilian world #4 surfer Joao Chianca was “nearly killed” at the notorious North Shore surf break from a severe wipeout at Backdoor—Pipe’s righthander.
Yesterday, we reported that he was in stable condition in the hospital and now details have emerged about the near-fatal wipeout.
Hawaii News Now (HNN) posted the news segment above today and captioned it:
“Pipeline strikes again as one of the world’s top surfers is recovering in a hospital after getting knocked unconscious Sunday.”
Chianca was surfing pumping Pipeline when he was knocked unconscious and remained underwater before North Shore lifeguards rescued him and saved his life.
According to HNN, “The 23 year old from Brazil is okay, but reports say he was underwater for several minutes.”
Reporter Eddie Dowd continued:
“It’s still unclear whether Chianca hit his board or the reef, but the wipeout nearly killed him.
“He was taking off on a bomb when he free fell from the top, a routine ejection for big wave surfers, but this time, Chianca didn’t pop up.”
North Shore lifeguard Ian Bachmann helped get Chianca out of the water and told HNN that after the wipeout, he remained underwater and took three more waves on the head.
“When we finally saw his body kinda floating there, we got down there as soon as possible. He was unconscious,” Bachmann said.
North Shore surfer Kala Grace, who suffered a severe head injury at Pipe in January, got out of the water as soon as he realized Chianca was injured and saw him on the beach.
“I saw him laying there completely purple, out cold,” Grace recalled to HNN.
Joao is reportedly still in stable condition and conscious.
Bachmann summed it up:
“Joao is one of the best surfers on the planet, and it just shows that Pipeline does not discriminate.”
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