A 16-year-old California State Parks lifeguard rescued a 10-year-old boy from 8-to-10-foot waves at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The father of the rescued 10-year-old, Nathaniel, Sumit Rai, expressed his gratitude. "He ran into that water despite those conditions that are deadly. You have 10 foot waves; you have riptides and currents coming in. It is not safe for him to go into that water. So he's risking his own safety," Rai told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Nathaniel was standing in shallow water when he was pulled into the ocean Saturday by powerful swells that suddenly came ashore at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, about 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) down the coast from San Francisco. Rai, who was in his home city of Dallas, said he heard about what happened when his kids called him that night. "My son told me that he drowned and my son told me that he went unconscious. He was very subdued, still in a state of shock," he said.
By the next morning, Rai had watched the video of the rescue that has since caught the attention of President Donald Trump. Ryder Williams, 16, the lifeguard who saved Nathaniel, said he saw the boy lose his footing in ankle-deep water. He radioed in and then raced toward Nathaniel. "After the first wave, I was unable to pull him out because he was limp and the waves were pushing so hard," he said in a statement.
California State Parks, which employs the lifeguards at that beach, said the boy was swept about 15 yards (13.7 meters) into the ocean before the lifeguard made contact with him. In the video, Williams can be seen diving into a coming wave while holding tight to the boy. Another lifeguard jumped in to help, along with some bystanders, who Williams said he warned to go back to the shore. "I'm grateful to have had the help," he said.