Recently, two beautiful girls aged 13 and 14 in Canada became rescue heroes, and the two rescued two drowning tourists with their swift and heroic actions and strong swimming skills in the Caribbean resort.
Last Wednesday (January 3) afternoon, Zoe Ireland Meklensek and her friend Emma Bassermann went on bodyboarding on the beach club coast at the southern tip of the Caribbean island of Barbados.
Bodyboarding, also known as boogie boarding, uses a smaller, less rigid skateboard than surfing.
"I heard a faint cry for help, so I looked around and saw a woman in a bright orange swimsuit waving her arms in the distance," Zoe, 13, recalled in an interview this week.
The woman in the orange swimsuit was Belinda Stone, who was on holiday with her husband, Robert, from England.
She was about 15 meters from the shore at the time, the water was too deep to stand on the ground, and there was a strong current flowing.
"I swam up to her, and she said her husband was further away," Zoe said.
"She struggled to swim and she was worried about her husband, and I could see his head when she pointed at him. ”
According to the British couple who later said, "They were just floating on the water, talking about how this was paradise, and it was, but unconsciously they didn't realise that they had been drifted far away from the shore,"
Zoe said. Then they separated. ”
Emma, 14, was back on shore at the time, and according to her recollections, "the waves came in diagonally and there was a strong backcurrent, so they drifted down the beach to a farther place from the shore." ”
Zoe said the currents were "quite choppy" and there were no lifeguards on duty, so we had to act quickly. ”
She strapped the strap of the surfboard to one of her wrists, placed Belinda on the board, and swam parallel to the beach until the current waned, a technique used to swim safely to shore.
Emma recalled, "I saw Zoe swim farther and then she pulled a woman in a bright orange swimsuit. ”
Once Belinda is safely ashore, Emma and Zoe board together and set off to rescue Belinda's husband, Robert.
This time Zoe strapped the skateboard strap to her legs, "and we pulled him up," and swam parallel to the beach again, reaching a place where the current was weaker so they could approach the shore safely.
"Emma has always been there for me," she said. "We're very excited and trying to get into action as soon as possible.
"If I don't have a floatable skateboard, I'll take one. That's why we go out with our surfboards: if we don't have skateboards, it's dangerous to go out and rescue them back, because we too can be pulled out by the current, and we can be drowned. ”
Mr. and Mrs. Stone are an older couple who are very grateful to 2 beautiful girls for reaching out to the rescue.
"Belinda said they were so grateful that she thought they were going to drown," Zoe said.
She also said, "When she shouted loudly, she was worried about herself and her husband Robert, and she was worried about us because she thought we looked so young." ”
But Emma and Zoe are both strong swimmers who live in Dorval, Montreal, and Emma started swimming at the Dorval Swim Club six years ago, and she says she learned a lot from her parents, including the importance of swimming parallel to the beach when the current is strong.
She is part of the Dorval Swim Club's National Development Team, which is made up of about 15 swimmers who have qualified for the Olympic Trials or are close to qualifying.
They spent 10 days training in Barbados, training in a 50-metre outdoor pool in preparation for the Olympic trials in May and in preparation for this summer's Paris Olympics.
Emma recently qualified for the Olympic 100m breaststroke trials, and the next step is to qualify for the 200m. In Barbados, she trains four hours a day, twice for two hours, and at home, she trains 17 to 21 hours a week.
Zoe's father, Chuck Meklensek, was the head coach of the Dorval Swim Club, and Zoe had been swimming for most of her life.
"My dad was one of the best swimming coaches in Quebec, so I learned a lot from him," she said.
"I also learned something from my mom, who taught me how to swim parallel to the beach: she instilled it in me and let me know what to do. ”
Zoe and Emma's Barbados rescue quickly gained traction on social media, Barbadian media and within Canada. Both beautiful girls said they were surprised by everyone's enthusiastic response.
"It's human nature to hear someone cry for help, and then you go and help them," Zoe said.
For Emma, the incident highlights an important lesson.
"I hope this will make all parents realize that they should take swimming lessons from an early age," she says, "so that something like that doesn't happen to them." ”
Looking back on their feats, they are all proud of what they have done.
"I think we all handled it really well and did what we needed to do to help them," Emma said.
"I'm so thankful they're okay," Zoe added.
2 beautiful girls will return to Canada on January 10 to become real-life heroes.