Fisherman’s Drone Rescue: Girl Seconds from Drowning Saved

A shark fisherman uses a drone to save a girl from drowning in Pensacola beach, by flying a flotation device out to her, reports The Guardian.

On May 15, Florida man Andrew Smith made the last minute decision to try new fishing waters in Pensacola Florida. 

Smith says he’d only been there for about 10 minutes before a girl came running asking if he or his friend could swim. Due to a seizure disorder Smith was diagnosed with he could not. 

“She was running and screaming, and nobody [else] could swim,” Smith stated to CBS12.

After seeing the girl getting sucked farther and farther away by a rip current she was stuck in, Smith sprang into action. She had been stuck in the current for about 5 minutes; Smith knew she realistically was losing steam. 

Fisherman’s Split-Second Decision Turns Drone into Lifesaver

Smith looked down at the drone he had and used to position the bait. Most fishers use kayaks but due to his seizures, it’s not safe for him.

All of a sudden Smith had the idea that “The drone can swim [even if] I can’t”. 

Attaching a nearby flotation device to the drone, Smith made his first attempt at rescuing the girl.

“I was shaking pretty badly,” Smith stated. “It was nerve-wracking – I almost cried”.

He used the drone to fly the flotation device out to the girl, but in the chaos of everything, he released the device way too early and with the wind it was a complete miss.

Overwhelming him more, Smith knew that this second chance might be the last one he had to save the girl. A bystander gave him a second flotation device, which he loaded onto his drone to try again.

This time he flew the drone back out slowly, taking his time to lower it down to the girl slower than the first attempt. Smith says he remembers the distressed girl reaching up to the drone with her hand, trying to grab the flotation device. He reported that this was his cue to slightly lower the drone and release the device.

The second attempt was successful, the girl was able to climb on and start floating. 

Beach Safety Warning: Hero Uses Spotlight to Educate Public

Lifeguards were not scheduled to patrol the beach until after Memorial Day on May 26th, therefore it took another five minutes before First Responders were able to make it to the scene. Smith reports that local Police, EMS, and lifeguards told him that if his second attempt had failed “she wouldn’t have made it”. 

After the girl was removed from the water, she was examined and evaluated by medical professionals where she received a clean bill of health. 

A bystander, Robert Nay filmed the rescue which has now gone viral on social media, says that he’s “never seen anything like that” and that Smith is “a true hero”. 

Due to a no-fly rule in Fort Pickens, if the girls had been any farther down the beach, Smith would not have been able to perform the rescue. 

Smith recalls that the girl’s father has called him “his guardian angel” for saving his daughter’s life. 

Using the attention Smith had earned, he reminds people to pay attention to the flag system on the beach, warning people when it is safe to swim and when it is not.

Photos courtesy of CBS12