A revolution in the world of rescue. On July 1, in front of a beach in Sagunto, a famous seaside resort in the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain, a 14-year-old boy found himself “in great difficulty bathing. Weakened by the tide and the powerful waves and unable to to reach dry land, the young man threatened to drown imminently.
the saved teenager
Pending the arrival of help, the latter was rescued by a drone, which was able to drop a life jacket and allow him to stay afloat for precious minutes. At the origin of this life-saving device, the General Drones company, entrusted by the provincial government to support rescuers on several beaches in the area.
“When we arrived we saw a child in very poor condition, almost without the strength to continue floating, so I sent the life jacket. Due to the strong waves it was a complicated maneuver, but we finally managed to give him the vest and he was able to float until the rescuers caught up with him on a jet ski,” Miguel Ángel Pedrero, a drone pilot for the company, told Reuters.
The teenager, whose identity has not been released, was immediately placed on oxygen at a local hospital and returned home the next day with no ill effects.
At least six people already saved
The subject of drowning is a hot topic in Spain. According to RTVE, this year 218 people have drowned in the country, almost 60% more than in 2021 at the same time. For the month of June, 57 people died in this way, 24 of them in the Valencian Community, underlines the reason.
To lower this tragic figure, the Valencian City Council has teamed up with the General Drones firm, which has developed the Auxdron LFG, a revolutionary aircraft capable of taking off in less than five seconds and flying at 85 kilometers per hour, or 24 meters. per second. An important detail since from the moment a victim begins to drink water, his life expectancy is only 60 seconds.
Some twenty Spanish municipalities are already equipped with this device. A winning bet, since at least six people have already been rescued and saved from drowning thanks to the intervention of the drone.
“The rescue of these six people fully justifies all our efforts,” said Gabriela Bravo, Minister of Justice, Interior and Public Administrations of the Valencian Community.
As part of your project Safe Beaches (Plages Sûres en Valencian, ndlr), the City Council wants, in addition to the implementation of this device, to insist on raising awareness among the population, while the composite portrait of drowning victims can be summed up as men over 50 years of age. who bathed on unattended beaches.
This Tuesday, a 65-year-old man drowned on a beach in Oliva, a town in the region that is not equipped with a drone.
Source: BFM TV
