Although the time this happened and where in South Carolina are not identified, the video of the dramatic rescue was posted on YouTube yesterday.
The video shows a lifeguard on a platform walking back and forth as he scans the pool. It is a wave pool and you can see the wave moving across the water. The pool is crowded with adults and children, some of whom are using rubber flotation devices. If you look closely, you can see the wave going across the pool and people going up and down with the wave.
All of a sudden, the lifeguard dives into the water and goes up to a three-year-old girl. He noticed when the wave hit her she went under and was waiving her arms, trying to put her head above water. He blew his whistle and the wave machine was turned off. As the U.K. Express reports, he was able to safely swim back and get the girl out of the pool.
But that was the easy part of the job. The hard part was trying to find the girl’s family. The lifeguard said he had been doing the job for 18 years and was amazed at how many parents fail to supervise their children who are in the pool. He had to walk around the pool with the little girl before he could locate the toddler’s family. They had no idea where she was in the pool or that she was missing.
Reaction in both comments in online newspapers and on social media praised the lifeguard for his heroic actions. Others criticized the family for leaving the girl alone in the wave pool with no supervision and no life jacket and said they should be charged with child neglect.
