Dramatic video captured the moment an Australian weatherman stopped his live report on a beach and rushed into the water to rescue a 10-year-old boy struggling to stay afloat.
Paul Burt was doing a live feed for 7NEWS on the sand in Surfers Paradise Thursday evening when he noticed that the boy was in distress after being pulled by a riptide, according to the outlet.
The quick-thinking journalist dropped his microphone and sprang into action — jumping into the choppy water to help passers-by pull the child ashore.
After saving the boy, part of a family from Pakistan, Burt returned to his duties.
“There was a 10-year-old boy … that got dragged out into this fierce gutter, and of course into this rip,” the dripping-wet reporter said on the air, referring to a stretch of deeper water scoured out of the sand.
Burt dropped his broadcast and jumped into the water to save the boy.
“Being of a light weight, he managed to stay afloat and come in adjacent to the southern side of the gutter. About four or five of us jumped in and basically pulled him back to the beach,” Burt said.
“He’s living, he’s breathing, he’s conscious, he’s talking. The ambulance here are doing their best to obviously keep him alert. There’s no doubt he would have taken a fair bit of water in,” he added.
Burt reminded viewers that ocean gutters may seem innocent but they can deadly for inexperienced swimmers.
Other rescuers were also on hand to help the boy.
“These gutters here are very, very dangerous,” he said. “We’ve had half a dozen rescues on the Gold Coast here this week.”
