Teen hero Klayton Thorn rescues man near Maroubra rock pool
Klayton Thorn was about to take a dip in Mahon Pool at Maroubra when he was called into action to help save a man from drowning.
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Klayton Thorn was about to take a dip in Mahon Pool at Maroubra when he was called into action to help save a man from drowning.
“I was just walking down there with a friend to go for a swim,” Klayton, 16, said about the rescue on Saturday, August 17.
“Just when I was about to jump in I heard someone yelling for help.”
The Maroubra local looked up and saw a man floating in the ocean not far from the iconic rock pool.
He quickly scrambled up some rocks to collect an angel ring stored nearby for emergencies, before tossing it to the fully-clothed man.
Klayton then tried to give the man directions to escape the rough waters which were pounding into the rocks.
“He did not really know what to do when he had the ring so I was trying to help him and say how to get in,” he said.
“I was just telling him to keep close to the rocks and made sure he was calm and made sure he did not panic.”
After about five minutes, the man managed to climb up onto a rock and get out of the ocean.
Emergency services arrived shortly after and paramedics treated the man, aged in his 30s, for a laceration to his leg before taking him to hospital in a stable condition.
Klayton, who grew up as part of the South Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club, said his instincts kicked in when he saw what was happening.
The angel ring he used to help save the man’s life went missing a few weeks before the incident, but was replaced by a member of the South Sydney Amateur Fishing Association.
The representative rugby union player added he often went down to the pool for a swim before or after a match to relax his body, and he had played a game of Oztag that day before going for a dip with his mate Bellamy Brown.
He said he would like to meet the man he helped save.
“I wouldn’t mind meeting him and speaking about it. And I would like to know why he was in the water and how he ended up there.”
He added after he spoke to police he shot home to warm up as it was very cold and windy that afternoon.
Klayton is a budding rugby union star and the youngest member of the Waverley College 1st XV, making his debut this year in Year 10.
The scrum-half also plays club rugby for Randwick and has been picked to represent a NSW Waratahs junior team at the 2019 National Under-16 Rugby Championships in Canberra late next month.
He said it was a tough choice picking union as his main sport but he liked how it brought “all cultures together”.
He is the Courier’s latest nominee for Junior Sports Star in the 2019 Local Sports Stars Awards. These recognise and reward talented athletes and teams aged 18 and under across sports, as well as hardworking volunteers.
Nominations close on August 31 through localsportsstars.com.au/newslocal.