An unmanned drone was used to rescue two Australian swimmers Thursday while lifeguards on the beach trained with the device on the first day they had it.
Two teens became caught in dangerous waves about 2,300 feet offshore at Lennox Head in New South Wales, the BBC reported. Lifeguards sent the drone to rescue them by dropping an inflatable rescue pod, and they grabbed it and swam to shore.
The rescue with the drone took only 70 seconds, whereas a lifeguard rescue would have taken about six minutes, according to Northern NSW Parliamentary Secretary Ben Franklin, Fox News reported.
The drone had just been received at the beach location that day and lifeguards were training with it.
“I was able to launch it, fly it to the location, and drop the pod all in about one to two minutes,” lifeguard supervisor Jai Sheridan told the Sydney Morning Herald. “On a normal day that would have taken our lifeguards a few minutes longer to reach the members of the public.”
“This was an extraordinary rescue with the very best possible outcome,” Franklin said, Fox News reported.
“The Little Ripper UAV certainly proved itself today,” Sheridan told the Herald. “It is an amazingly efficient piece of lifesaving equipment and a delight to fly.”
Twitter users were wowed by the drone technology.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.