The 16-year-old lifeguard who has gone viral for saving a child from drowning

A video has gone viral on social media, turning a 16-year-old lifeguard into a hero. The images show the rescue of a child being swept away by the waves at Santa Cruz beach in California, as he tried to get out of the water. The strong surf made it impossible for the child to get out of the water, and the young lifeguard, without letting go, carried him to the beach.

The events were recorded by a photographer, Scott Vander Dussen, who alerted emergency teams when he saw the minor disappearing into the sea. After the young lifeguard's efforts, a group of people helped to get both of them to safety.

The lifeguard's actions, according to Ramsés Martí, a 112 emergency nurse and aquatic lifeguard, are very correct: "We have the feeling that the lifeguard is completely overwhelmed, but from a professional point of view, his performance is very well executed." The young man never loses contact with the victim, Martí explains, and he doesn't try to reach the sand at all costs, but even submerges himself to avoid fighting all the waves.

In fact, Donald Trump himself, president of the United States, has echoed the video and invited the young man to the White House to receive him and thank him for his work: "He was very brave and deserves it".

Drownings of this type and violent waves are not isolated incidents from California: here in Catalonia, tragedies of this kind have occurred, due to the difficulties of getting out of the water that surprise bathers. Faced with a situation like this, the question is: how should we act?

First of all, we must avoid going against the current: "When we panic, we forget it, our brain enters survival mode and we want to get out the way we came in," warns Martí. Therefore, we must avoid fighting and remember that in the Mediterranean we have undertows that can take us away from the beach, but not as much as we think, and what we should do is let ourselves float, breathe, and try to make ourselves visible to signal that we cannot get out of the water. Next, ideally we should try to move sideways to be able to get out of the sea on one side with the force of the waves.

How can we prevent drownings?

The most important thing is that we do not go into the water alone and that if we doubt the sea conditions, we do not enter. Besides, we also need to pay attention to the flags, but we should not be complacent: "We can also drown with a green flag," assures Martí. We must try to choose places where there is surveillance, since we can have incidents whether we are good swimmers or not, and thus we ensure that the emergency response is faster.

Besides, it is important that we take into account our situation: a green flag if we are with small children or elderly people can mean a yellow flag for our situation. In addition, we must be aware of not going into the water completely alone, after eating or sunbathing... These are basic but important tips to avoid these tragedies, which are repeated every summer.