15yo girl sent to hospital after two teens involved in near-drowning incident at Glenelg
A French tourist has helped rescue two teenage girls – one of whom was unconscious – from waters off Glenelg Beach.
Two teen girls were fortunate to escape largely unscathed when they found themselves in trouble off waters at Glenelg Beach on Monday, before a touring Frenchman helped them to safety.
An off-duty Surf Life Saving member, who was part of a boat group preparing for a training session, notified Glenelg lifeguards that two people had fallen off the sandbar just outside the lifeguard-patrolled areas.
Two lifeguards swam out – one on a rescue board and one with a rescue tube – to find a member of public – Frenchman Aubin Davalan – and another lifeguard keeping the two girls afloat. The girls were promptly returned to shore.
One of the girls was unconscious and received treatment from the lifeguard until she regained consciousness, while the other girl remained conscious throughout.
Emergency services were called to the beach, in front of the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club, just after 5.30pm.
Both teens received treatment from SA Ambulance Service paramedics, and were able to walk to the vehicles when transported off the beach.
A 15-year-old girl was taken to Flinders Medical Centre for treatment. Her condition has not been released.
The second teenager, a 14-year-old, had no reported issues.
Mr Davalan, who is here from France on a working holiday visa, was swimming with a friend when they heard someone shouting for help.
When he looked over, he saw two girls – one with her head in the water.
Mr Davalan, 25, said he quickly swam towards the girls and found one was unconscious.
He held the girl up before a lifeguard took her back to shore.
On shore, the lifeguard put an oxygen mask on her face and gave her first aid.
He said he put the girl into the lateral safety position and the lifeguard put an oxygen mask on her face and gave her CPR.
He said at one point the girl was able to get up but then fell.
Surf Life Saving SA general manager of public safety Sean Faulkner said the teens were “amazingly lucky” to have been rescued despite not swimming in between the areas supervised by lifeguards.
“Even though (the teens) weren’t between the red and yellow flags, they were able to be supported by the lifeguard services which have actually only been activated last Monday,” he said.
“They’ve been going for about a week. This is the sixth day of operation this season and this is actually the fourth rescue they’ve performed at Glenelg already.”
Although the weather and water conditions were not a factor in the near-drowning incident, Mr Faulkner said Glenelg Beach has a “reputation”.
“I wouldn’t say there’s anything adverse at the beach, but it’s usually people getting caught out of their own depth,” he said.
“This is a timely reminder for everyone as we get properly into the summer season now that unfortunately you can’t be complacent in and around water.”
He said the girls were “quite fortunate” they were spotted as the focus of the lifeguard lies on those swimming within the flags.
“So in this case they were very fortunate that someone did notice that they’re in trouble and a member of the public went to the rescue,” he said.
“In the past we have also have seen a lot of incidents arise from bystander rescues, so we encourage people to alert the lifeguards, especially in locations like this where they’re available, rather than potentially endangering yourself.”
The incident comes as Adelaide starts to experience warmer conditions, with a stretch of warm weather this week.
Temperatures peaked at 28.4C in the city on Monday ahead of forecast highs of 29C on Tuesday and Wednesday, 32C on Thursday and 35C on Friday.
Originally published as 15yo girl sent to hospital after two teens involved in near-drowning incident at Glenelg
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