SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) - A teenage boy needing assistance while in the water at Ocean Beach was rescued by two other teenagers on Sunday, according to authorities.
Investigators say the teen was trying to rescue his girlfriend from drowning, but he ended up needing saving himself.
San Diego Lifeguards performed CPR on the 16-year-old boy who was rescued from the water south of the OB Pier.
Witnesses said he had been facedown unconscious for at least a minute, maybe two. Witnesses who helped the two in the water, Callum Robertson and Antonio Poma - both 14 years old - say the victim’s girlfriend had jumped into the rough water first and ran into trouble so the victim went in to try and save her even though he couldn’t swim.
"He jumped in and tried to save her because she was screaming 'help, help' and all that, then they were both screaming 'help," said Robertson.
Poma then jumped in to help the female.
"I tried jumping in, so she could get a breath in because she kept yelling 'help,'" he said.
Poma says a boogie boarder helped the teens get the girl up onto shore.
"We lifted her up onto it so she could get out, but she was bleeding everywhere," said Poma.
The female's boyfriend remained in the water.
"The other kid was still out there upside-down, unconscious like in the water for a good minute and a half, two minutes," said Roberston.
A lifeguard on a jet ski was able to pull the victim to safety where crews gave him CPR for several minutes and then loaded him into an ambulance. His girlfriend with her leg bandaged left with her family.
"She’s breathing, she's scraped up, bleeding bad, but she’s fine," said the girl's mother.
Lifeguards offered this warning:
"The biggest concern lifeguards have is when people swim where we can’t see them, can’t protect them," said one lifeguard lieutenant. "When there’s water moving like this over the reefs, it’s dangerous down there."