Former Titans boss Michael Searle’s son Nate in ICU after near drowning at Currumbin Alley

FORMER Titans boss Michael Searle is desperate to meet the mysterious hero who pulled his unconscious son out of the surf after a bad wipeout yesterday.

Nate Searle was rescued by a man called Victor who pulled him from the surf after a wipeout on Tuesday.

GOLD Coast surfer and junior rugby prodigy Nate Searle is in intensive care after being pulled from under water on Tuesday afternoon by an unknown hero named Victor.

His dad Michael Searle, the Gold Coast Titans founder, is racing back from Hawaii to be by his son’s side while he is in the intensive care unit.

It is believed Nate was knocked out by a surfboard and was unconscious in the water.

Mr Searle said a man in his 20s named Victor saved his son’s life.

Nate and father Michael Searle on holidays

“Another bloke there was a nurse and said Victor pulled Nate off the bottom of the water,” he said.

“Nate was on the bottom and unconscious for some time and Victor managed to locate him by his leg rope and got him up to his board.”

Gold Coast Lifeguards Southern Superintendent Anthony Lunney said it the incident happened at 5.30pm.

“When Nate was pulled up from the water he sort of came too and had big lump on his head,” he said.

“(Victor) got him on the beach and upon inspection we could tell he had a lot of water in one of his lungs and he went to the ICU to get it drained.”

Speaking to the Bulletin from Hawaii where Mr Searle was celebrating Gold Coast icon Joel Parkinson’s last professional surfing event, he said he just wanted to get home quickly and thank Victor.

“I am so keen to meet him, it is hard to explain the gratitude you have for someone who saves your son’s life,” he said.

“If he wasn’t we would be talking about a fatality.

“People have said Victor had an accent and was in his 20s.”

A Gold Coast University Hospital spokeswoman said Nate was in a stable condition.

Michael Searle is racing home from Hawaii to see his son Nate who was pulled from the water unconscious on Tuesday afternoon.

More than two years ago Nate was one of three Gold Coast surfers who saved another person’s life in the water.

In 2016, Nate, Luca Stevenson and Mitchell Ellis pulled a 15-year-old boy out of the surf at J-Bay in South Africa.

The surfers saw people panicking on the headland and paddled in thinking it was a shark in the water.

Luca Stevenson 15, Mitchell Ellis 19, and Nate Searle, 15, at JBay after rescuing a local in the surf.

They soon realised the alarm was over a near-drowning and they saw the boy disappear under the water.

The three Currumbin boys secured him to a board and paddled him into shore.