MADISON, N.C. — A swimmer is safe after being pulled from the Dan River and given CPR and other live saving measures.
The Madison Rockingham Rescue Squad said Rescue Technician Ryan Clark was having a day of fun with his family when he noticed an unresponsive person floating in the water at Madison River Park.
Zaireen Acosta was at the park when it all happened, she said her friend was actually the person rescued by Clark.
It was a tubing trip that turned into an unexpected rescue.
Acosta said she's glad several good Samaritans stepped in, including Clark.
She admits she feared the worst when she watched her friend go completely under water during a tubing trip down the Dan River.
Despite her group of friends trying to get to the struggling swimmer, the current of the Dan River was working against them too.
"She just fell into the water and then next thing I know, I am just seeing her struggle to keep herself afloat and then one thing after another, I don't even see her hands anymore and I was just really thinking the worse," Acosta said.
Here's what Acosta said she witnessed: her friends were floating down the Dan River when all the sudden, one of them seemed to be stuck in one spot on the river with a strong current.
She said her friend was in that spot struggling for several minutes until she eventually fell into the water.
As the group of friends panicked and tried their hardest to help their friend, as mentioned, the current of the river was working against them too.
Luckily, several park goers, including the off-duty first responder, jumped into action and saved her friend from serious injury or even death.
Ultimately, Acosta is just happy her friend was rescued when she was. She said in the case of this particular emergency and others like it, seconds matter.
"I think 30 seconds or one minute longer would have maybe been too late but they were able to pull her out and kind of revive her, give her CPR. One of them was fortunately a paramedic and I just though, "oh my God we're just so lucky with that," because I don't know what the outcome would have had been if he wasn't there. It was just crazy," Acosta said.
Clark revived Acosta's friend, she was then sent to a nearby hospital.
Acosta said she can't believe someone like Clark was there and just so happened to have the skills to save her friends life.
"They [all those helping] knew exactly what to do, they put her on her side, trying to get the water out of her lungs and then just kind of gave her some chest compressions and took her a little while to come to, she was in and out a little bit but, you know, she was okay. I'm just so so glad," Acosta said.
She emphasizes that it wasn't just Clark who helped save the day. She said multiple people at the park jumped in, giving her even more hope in humanity.
"There was one lady that was making the calls for us cause I think we you're in that situation, you're just so panicked. You don't really know what's the first thing you need to do, you know? There was just a lot of good Samaritans out there to give us a hand and that really saved the day for us," Acosta said.
As of now, Acosta tells WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman that her friend is okay. She's left the ICU and is set to return home.
Safe to say, it was a happy ending to what could have been a tragic story.