ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Two boat captains with Ballyhoo Media rescued a young boy after he struggled in a strong current off Pass-a-Grille Beach.
Captain Patrick Foley was driving an advertisement vessel. He was with his colleague, Captain Craig Edwards.
The two noticed a beach ball floating in the water. A young boy, maybe 10 years old, was chasing the ball.
"As he tried to swim back with the ball, he let go of the ball, and we saw he started to panic," said Foley.
Edwards saw the young boy struggling in the current. He was once a lifeguard and decided to jump into the water.
"The current was going parallel to the sandbar, so Foley agreed keeping the boat back was the safest thing because of the wind and waves, putting us towards the jetty. I swam him to the sandbar. It was pretty close," said Edwards.
Another boat rescued the boy's mother and brought her to shore. Edwards said there was a language barrier between him and the child, but he was grateful.
"I was talking to him the whole time on the way in. I didn't realize he couldn't understand me," said Edwards.
Edwards said the young boy gave him a smile and a high-five.
"I didn't get to meet the family because the mom was rescued on a separate boat, but I did see an older gentleman that I'm assuming was a relative because he stayed exactly with us, and he had the biggest smile of joy that this boy was safe," said Edwards.
Helen Roldan with Ballyhoo Media said the company as a whole had five documented rescues.
The company is a waterway advertisement company, and boat captains frequent the waterways. The company works throughout the country, including Staten Island, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and along Tampa Bay beaches.
Edwards urges people not to jump into the water to save a person. The best practice is to call for help and toss a flotation device.
"I think people need to just become more familiar with rip currents and the conditions and really, probably not go past this depth of water because they have good control when they’re at waist deep. Once they go deeper than waist deep, that’s when Mother Nature has control over them," he said.
"Because of the proximity to the rocks, I felt that was a dangerous situation. I wanted to get the boat out of there and just jump in, handle it, swimming."
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