RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A good Samaritan turned his regular beach day into a rescue mission of three people when he noticed they needed help.
Fernando Carrera was visiting family on Riviera Beach when he heard the call for help.
“When I made the decision, I’m going in, I said, ‘Lord, please don’t let this be my last day,” said Carrera.
He said he noticed a man yelling and struggling to swim in a strong rip current. Without hesitation, he jumped into action.
“I tried to tell him, you know, ‘Stay with me. Stay with me,’ and he can hear me. He sees me coming and so, finally, I reach out to him, I get a hold of him and I start trying to get him out,” said Carrera.
The frantic scene was caught on camera by his family as Cabrera grabbed the man and pulled him back to shore.
“This is unbelievable. This is crazy,” he said.
But before he could catch his breath, he realized others were in trouble.
“And so I turned around and there’s two more people, you know, followed in. I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I grabbed both of them and I just took them out of the water.”
Carrera pulled the teens to safety when first responders and more units arrived.
He said he was at the right place at the right time.
“We came visiting here. I walked a 15-minute walk on the beach turns out into, you know, saving some people’s lives, which is pretty amazing.”
For Carrera, it’s a moment he won’t forget.
“I could not live with myself if I just didn’t jump on the water there.”
The sheriff’s office confirms five people were rescued from the water.
All five people were taken to a nearby hospital and are expected to be OK.
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