Off-duty lifeguard saves man from drowning at Crescent Beach
An off-duty lifeguard and several bystanders in Surrey are being praised for their efforts after they helped save a man from drowning at Crescent Beach last week.
The Crescent Beach Swimming Club says in a social media post that a man was seen “slapping the water awkwardly and silently coming up for air” around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
The man had been swimming in the area of Crescent Beach, which is patrolled by Crescent Beach Life Guarding Corporation (CBLG) lifeguards each day, though only from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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Three women were able to drag the man, who was unconscious by that point, back to shore.
The club notes 19-year-old off-duty lifeguard Emma Baecker was coaching a paddleboard lesson nearby. The second-year Crescent Beach lifeguard was able to swim over and start performing CPR.
“Ms. Baecker identified herself as a lifeguard and led the rescue effort on the man, who was foaming at the mouth and at one point was revived only to stumble back into the water again,” the Crescent Beach Swimming Club writes in a Facebook post.
Baecker was able to help the man until firefighters arrived. He was taken to the hospital and was discharged days later, the post continues.
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According to the swimming club, the near-drowning underscores the dangers of being in the water during unguarded hours. The social media post goes on to note the sea floor in the popular Crescent Beach spot drops off into a boat channel where “there is often a fierce ocean current that brings the tide in and out of Boundary Bay twice each day.”
People are being reminded that the signs of drowning may not be as apparent as one might think, with one bystander telling the CBLG that she didn’t recognize them herself — despite being a lifelong boater with first-aid training.
“I think I probably had an unrealistic conception of what drowning looked like. Part of me thought they’d be screaming or calling for help. I would have thought that it would look more frantic and that’s why we didn’t think he was drowning. It almost looked like some strange creative exercise,” Katie Brook, who was one of the women who pulled the man out of the water, told the corporation.
