What started as a joyful day in the water for a Romanian family and a a windy SUP surfing session for a Greek man quickly turned into a dramatic rescue. Strong currents and rough sea had swept away two children and their their exhausted father, who was unable to return to the shore.
Greek Vangelis Papaioannou was the right man in the right place at the right time to help the family struggling with the waves. With his paddle-board he managed to reach them, calm them down, guide the children to the beach and take their father back to safety.
Footage displays the dramatic rescue of a swimmer by an experienced man on a Stand-UP Paddle (SUP) who was out to do some filming at the sea.
he tourist family from Romania was spending their summer vacation in Epanomi, south-east of Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
Speaking to state broadcaster ERT, Papaioannou said he out with his Stand-UP Paddle (SUP) board to do some filming of the rough sea and was about to return to the shore when he heard the children screaming.
“On my way back, after I took the video I wanted, I heard voices in the sea, I went in the direction I heard the voices, I saw two children in the water, they were trying to get out, called for help,” he said adding that the children could not get out because they were tired as they were swimming against the current.
“I gave them directions where to swim to get out of the current to go to the beginning and suddenly one of the children told me to help their father, who was lost and they didn’t know where he was.”
Papaioannou said that he saw the father 50-60 meters away, he was just floating, exhausted, he was swallowing sea water, he was in a very bad state of panic and after I calmed him down a bit for 2-3 minutes, as he was spitting water out of his mouth, he couldn’t breathe, he asked me about the children, I told him they were okay, they had gone out and I showed him how to grab the board and we reached the shore.”
VIDEO: SUPing Rescue
Regarding how they were swept away by the waves, Vangelis Papaioannou said that as they described to him, they were playing with the waves in a spot where the water is relatively shallow up to the waist, but a few meters further on it is very deep and so someone can easily get swept away.
