ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WSVN) — A boat captain pulled off a remarkable rescue along Florida’s Gulf Coast after he saved a boy who was swept out to sea.
Several photos showed the moment Captain Craig Edwards jumped into action to save the young boy from drowning.
“You could tell he was panicked being swept off of the beach area and he knew that he was just adrift, so I wanted to immediately jump in,” Edwards said.
At the time, Edwards and Captain Patrick Foley, were working their Sunday shift for a media company. They were driving around Pinellas beaches on a massive boat with a light up billboard.
When they were near the southern tip of Pass-a-Grille Beach, they spotted the boy.
They said he was chasing a ball right before he was swept out past the tip of the jetty.
“This kid actually got to the ball,” Foley said. “Once he had the ball, he tried to turn around and that’s when we knew he was in trouble. He let go off the ball and then he started struggling.”
Coincidentally, Edwards grew up as a lifeguard and has more than 50 rescues under his belt. He knew exactly what to do in that moment.
“He was ready to go, Craig,” Foley said. “There would have been no stopping him. Craig was ready to jump in. He went in socks and all.”
“I put him in a cross chest carry and I was calmly talking to him, trying to calm him down, and we just nice and easy took a swim toward the coast,” Edwards said.
At the same time. the boy’s mother was also spotted struggling, appearing to try and go after her son.
Thankfully, she was pulled into a nearby boat and not the rough waters.
Edwards says the family didn’t appear to speak English but he could see the gratitude on their faces.
“At the end we just gave each other a big high five and I saw his grandad up on the sidewalk and he had a smile ear to ear,” he said. “It was a really great moment that this boy was back on land and safe.”
The company the men work for, have had at least five documented cases of swimmers being rescued by their own employees.
“It’s fortunate that we are there on these 10-hour boat rides advertising,” he said. “We’re also looking out for the well-being of everybody who is in the water near us.”
Captain Edwards said he has no plans to leave his unofficial ocean patrol as he makes the beaches a little safer this summer.
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