Drone makes first ever water rescue for teens caught in rough surf

The world’s first water rescue-by-drone happened Thursday in Australia, when a machine saved the lives of two teenage boys caught in dangerous surf off the eastern coast of the continent, reports said.

The new drone — called the Little Ripper — dropped an inflatable rescue pod to the boys, allowing them to make it to shore three times faster than a normal rescue, the BBC reported.

“It took only 70 seconds from when the Little Ripper drone was launched to when it dropped the pod into the ocean for the rescue, a task that would usually take a lifeguard up to six minutes to complete,” Ben Franklin, Parliamentary Secretary for Northern New South Wales, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“This was an extraordinary rescue with the very best possible outcome.”

A person on the beach spotted the two struggling about 2,500 feet off shore and lifeguard supervisor Jai Sheridan, who was piloting the unmanned aerial vehicle as part of a training exercise, sent it out to sea and was able to locate the swimmers within minutes of the first alert.

“The Little Ripper UAV certainly proved itself today, it is an amazingly efficient piece of lifesaving equipment and a delight to fly,” Sheridan told the outlet.

“I was able to launch it, fly it to the location, and drop the pod all in about one to two minutes. On a normal day that would have taken our lifeguards a few minutes longer to reach the members of the public.”

In December last year, the NSW government invested $430,000 in drone technology for a trial on the north coast of the Australian state and officials say the return of investment is priceless.

“It’s quite incredible to see that the NSW Government’s investment in this technology has already resulted in two people having their lives saved,” Deputy Premier and minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro said.

“Never before has a drone, fitted with a flotation device been used to rescue swimmers like this.”

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