Dramatic footage has captured the heroic moment a Florida fisherman used a drone to rescue a young girl caught in a powerful rip current off Fort Pickens Beach, near Pensacola.
Andrew Smith, a local fisherman, was flying his SwellPro Fisherman Max drone to scout for sharks when he spotted the unidentified girl struggling far offshore, screaming for help.
“There was this girl screaming: ‘Can anybody swim?’” Smith recalled to Fox 4 Now.
“I can’t swim myself, but I had to do something.”
With no lifeguards on duty and strong red-flag surf conditions warning swimmers to stay out of the water, Smith acted fast — deploying his drone in a way it was never meant to be used.
Rescue Captured on Video by Fellow Beachgoer
As panic grew on the beach, Smith noticed unattended life preservers nearby. Using his drone’s cargo-release mechanism, he grabbed a life preserver and flew it over the water toward the girl.
