3-year-old rescued from capsized boat
Published: August 9, 2005
The Victoria Rescue Co-ordination Centre is praising a sailboat crew who rescued a three-year-old boy trapped under a capsized boat off Gabriola Island over the weekend.
The people on the 12-metre sailboat Outrageous saved Zachary Lushman, his father Jerry and a friend after their smaller boat overturned on Saturday.
Jerry Lushman says the sailboat came to their rescue – and that a man he knows only as “Clayton” jumped into the water and saved his son’s life.
“So he threw me a lifejacket, and then he dived into the water and he went up under the boat,” he told CBC Radio’s The Early Edition.
“And he told me to get off the boat, because he might have to slip it. So I started swimming towards the sailboat. And he went up under and pulled my son out.
“He said he was right there. As soon as he put his hand up under the boat, my son was right there. And he pulled him out.
“As I was swimming back, I heard him say, ‘The kid is all right.’ And I was so relieved.”
Rescue Centre spokesperson Darren Morely says the sailboat crew credit the lifejacket the boy was wearing with saving his life. But Morely says he believes it was the rescuer’s efforts that saved the boy.
“It’s a very brave thing to do. I mean the water temperature is between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius,” he says.
“And, you know, you’re safely aboard your own boat and you leave it in order to affect the rescue of others. It’s a dangerous maneuver, but it certainly worked.”
The child was taken to the Nanaimo hospital. He’s now reported to be doing fine.
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