Premier Gladys Berejiklian and local Member for Bega Andrew Constance called into Malua Bay today to recognise three young volunteers from Batemans Bay Surf Life Saving Club who bravely rescued two swimmers on Christmas day.
The trio of Sam Reedy 15, Angus Knight 15 and Lexus Knight 17 were involved dramatic rescue and near drowning of two men.
Surf Life Saving NSW reported that it was near the end of the day’s patrol, 4.30pm, when Angus and Lexus Knight were cooling off with a body surf when they noticed two swimmers in distress outside of the flagged area at Malua Bay.
The SLSNSW report said the siblings immediately swam over to assist the two males, one was panicking and the other was face down in the water. Lexus attempted to calm one man while Angus managed to roll the other swimmer face up. A nearby surfer gave them his foam board for flotation and Angus was able to lift his head out of the water and onto the board. Sam Reedy arrived on a rescue board and the boys secured the man onto the larger board.
The three teens were Nippers before doing their Surf Rescue Certificate and then the Bronze Medallion. Patrol captain and club President Col Knight believes this training set them up to deal with the scary situation and ensure they didn’t fail.
“I’m super proud of them, couldn’t ask for a better outcome. I’m sure without their intervention it could have been a hell of a lot worse. If they hadn’t responded so quickly the patient would have stopped breathing altogether and we would have been looking at a full scale resuscitation.”
