A man who suffered a heart attack while swimming in Mission Beach was revived by San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) Lifeguards on what is one of their busiest rescue days of the year.
The Fourth of July holiday started as out as routine patrol for the lifeguard crew who have dubbed the day their "Superbowl of lifeguarding" – flagging down speeding jet skiers and directing boats along different routes.
Then, one of those speeding jet skiers flagged them down. A man was unconscious and lying face down in the water, the jet skier said.
A harrowing rescue followed. Lifeguards pulled the man out of the water and struggled to get him onto a platform at the back of their patrol boat.
He did not have a pulse, lifeguards said.
Once aboard, lifeguards hooked the man up to an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machine and began chest compressions.
As a team, they systematically pumped the man’s chest for about 10 minutes as the boat sped back to shore.
Local
The crew was able to restart the man’s heart just before an ambulance and more medics arrived at a dock at Ski Beach Park to transport him to UC San Diego Medical Center.
It was not clear what condition the man was in when he arrived at the hospital.
The rescue is just one of dozens that SDFD lifeguards performed this Fourth of July holiday, one of their busiest days of each year.
This year, the team rescued 118 people as they patrolled beaches with an estimated attendance of 322,000.
