A 33-year-old woman from Melbourne is being called a hero after pulling three unconscious swimmers out of the ocean at a Victorian beach on Sunday.
Brianna Hurst was walking her dog at Marengo beach near Apollo Bay in Victoria’s south west when she saw people signalling for help for three men stuck in the water.
Feeling confident in her swimming abilities, Hurst said that as soon as she realised what the situation was, she “just jumped into action without really thinking”.
The three men were unconscious in the water, and Hurst told reporters she swam about 20 metres out to the first man to drag him to shore before rescuing the second and then the third. A number of other people, including a couple of doctors, came over to help perform CPR.
Tragically, one of the men, aged 26, died at the scene, while the other two men, aged 23 and 24, were rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
One remains in a critical condition and the other is in a stable condition as of Monday.
Hurst says it still hasn’t “fully clicked” what she’s done but that she just did what she hopes everyone would do in a similar situation.
“I guess on reflection I feel like I did everything I could have done to help them,” she said.
“It feels really good that I was able to help them out. Happy I was there at that time, probably just luck that I felt confident in the water and that wasn’t a barrier to helping them.”
Victoria Police Senior Sergeant Stephen Bull has called her actions heroic and noted that the situation she put herself into was very dangerous.
“She was very quick thinking and quick on her feet and did jump in the water to assist the three that were in trouble and get them up on the beach,” said Bull.
“Irrespective of her knowledge of the beach and beach situation… she’s put herself in danger to rescue three people that she didn’t know at great risk to herself.”
“There’s no other word that I can use other than heroic,” he added.
Lifesaving Victoria executive adviser Paul Shannon said the state had recorded 27 drowning deaths since December 1, and that this summer had been “pretty tragic.
“We’re on par for the worst summer on record since records have been kept,” he said.
“If you don’t have the swimming capability or the knowledge to understand where risk is, you’re really putting yourself in danger.”
“People need to take some responsibility for themselves and arm themselves with the risk mitigation to go out and enjoy a great day at the beach.”