MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A 15-year-old is alive thanks in part to a tow boat captain.
WATCH BELOW: 'When we got the outcome that we got, it was something we all needed,' Joshua Shell says
The teenager was likely pulled into the ocean from a strong current off the Blowing Rocks Preserve and then floated for nearly a mile before he was saved.
For Ryan Foster, a tow boat captain for TowBoat US, everyday is different.
“It can be anything, any different day,” said Foster.
Sunday was one of those days.
“This one was a first for me,” said Foster.
It was a first, because two miles north of where Foster was on the Intracoastal, a 15-year-old swimmer vanished while boogie-boarding off Blowing Rocks Preserve.
Ryan knew he needed to help in the search.
“I was thinking, just keep going north and trying to go maybe ahead of him and see if I can get him to drift towards where I was,” said Foster.
Foster did just that.
“I saw the top of his hand over the wave,” said Foster.
Foster said the teen was clinging to his boogie board.
“He was definitely winded, panicked, tired,” said Foster. “You can tell he's been trying to fight the current.”
Foster said he threw a lifesaving device to the teen and pulled him aboard.
“’I would like to ride back to shore, please,’ that's what he said,” said Foster.
“If he had not had that boogie board and a flotation device to hang on, this might have been a different outcome for this call,” said Joshua Shell, district chief for Martin County Fire Rescue.
The Martin County Sheriffs Office, Fire Rescue and FWC were leading the rescue efforts. Shell called the search and rescue a miracle.
“There was just a sinking feeling in your stomach for all of our responders going to this,” said Shell. “When we got the outcome that we got, it was something we all needed.”
Foster was a hero on Sunday and said he is glad the teen is OK.
Foster said he was just doing what he needed to do.
“If you're available, you try to always go out and help,” said Foster, “because you never know when it could be you in that situation.”
