Three off-duty lifeguards helped rescue five swimmers who were caught in a rip current at Robert Moses State Park on Tuesday night, according to News 12 New York. The station spoke exclusively with one of the guards who took part in the rescue, hearing his account of how the emergency unfolded on the beach.
The lifeguard said he first became aware something was wrong when he heard yelling from down the beach. He paddled over toward the noise and saw a man being pulled out in a rip current, holding onto a boogie board as the water carried him away from shore.
He said he got over to the man and started to pull him in toward safety. It was then that he heard more yelling further down the beach, a sign that the situation had grown more serious than the single swimmer he had first reached.
Four other beachgoers had tried to jump in to help the first swimmer, the lifeguard said, and they had been swept out by the same current. What began as one person in trouble had quickly turned into a group of five people struggling in the water.
The guard, identified as Cullen, and two other lifeguards had been surfing after their shift at field two when the rescue took place. Their presence in the water at that moment put them in a position to respond to the swimmers in distress.
Park officials said that at first one swimmer got caught in the rip current, but then four others who went in to help also became stuck. Despite the frightening scene, no one was hurt, and all five swimmers were brought safely back to shore.