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ghosttruck

Level 57 Taco Wizard
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What was supposed to be a fun family day at the beach turned into a scary circumstance when a young boy on an inflatable pool toy got swept out to sea in North Carolina.

"I was really scared and thinking like I might die and all that stuff," Declan O'Connor, 8, told ABC News.

His concerned mother was audibly shaken on the phone with 911 dispatchers.

"My son is floating out in the middle of the ocean on a floaty thing," Jill O'Connor said. "He doesn't have a life jacket on. He doesn't, he doesn't really know how to swim."

The large white and and pink unicorn float continued to drift into the distance and his father immediately jumped into action.

"As soon as we saw him moving away we went after him," Don O'Connor told ABC News. "We weren't making ground, we were moving away faster, but his mom called 911 right away."

Before officials made it to the beach, the Oak Island Water Rescue team of volunteers set out to sea to bring the young boy back to shore.

"It was a lot of tears, exhalation, being grateful and thankful for those rescuers," the relieved mom said.

The rescuers made their way onto dry land with Declan in their arms and delivered him right to his parents.

 
Why thank you dear!
agreed, and nothing is worst than northern tourists at southern locations in particular the beach or worse yet near swamps because they have no critical thinking or read the very minimal of what can happen.. Nobody that has ever lived near a beach or even river or creek would think children on floatation devises should be on them unsupervised or not within grabbing distance at the best
 
agreed, and nothing is worst than northern tourists at southern locations in particular the beach or worse yet near swamps because they have no critical thinking or read the very minimal of what can happen.. Nobody that has ever lived near a beach or even river or creek would think children on floatation devises should be on them unsupervised or not within grabbing distance at the best
About 23 years ago (and 50 pounds ago) old ghosttruck was a life guard in Daytona Beach. I've paddled out to remind many drunk people and children that the ocean is very pretty and trying to kill you. Was cussed out oonce by some big fat guy on a raft because I was trying to get him to come in. He argued until I popped his raft...then he was happy I was there :)
 
About 23 years ago (and 50 pounds ago) old ghosttruck was a life guard in Daytona Beach. I've paddled out to remind many drunk people and children that the ocean is very pretty and trying to kill you.
seriously we learned at an early age to either survive or die by stupidity and had come damn close to the wrong end of that stick and didn't more than a few times by some miraculous intervention or sheer luck fortune, all creatures are potentially deadly or harmful for the most part, swimming in canals or swamps should not be in the to do list nor shooting off shotguns to impress friends. I could go on and on and on. We should get together and write a book with illustrations on the 1001 ways redneck type southern kids can kill themselves and friends, we could make money and teach fools what not to let their kids do or be left to try on their own.
 
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Yes, indeed. My outdoor education also had to include how to spot and avoid roving dog packs at the beach and don't go in the water if you can see a storm offshore. And what time of day is safe to swim in bayous, i.e., when the gators have eaten and are lazing in sun. I think I got that education due to the era in which I grew up when people were way more outdoorsy than most are today. I'm getting the impression now that people aren't giving those practical lessons to their children today.
 
I think I got that education due to the era in which I grew up when people were way more outdoorsy than most are today. I'm getting the impression now that people aren't giving those practical lessons to their children today.
agreed they would toss us out at cats and we wouldn't have to come back until right before sunset to check in, was kinda an army brat but most all family was in Ok Texas, Louisiana & Fla so lots of rural
 
To be fair...you were a hippie, and no one outdoors better than they do! I should know those and bikers raised me lol

I think it was my early outdoors education that probably saved me as a hippie. Technically, I was just a flower child since I had a 9 to 5 and all. My fight against The Man didn't go quite that far. I did my best protesting with my own apt and car.
 
Who the crap puts their 8yr old on a raft in the ocean without a life vest, especially one that can't swim? Even then swimming in the ocean and swimming in a pool is two entirely different things. There's no current in a pool!

HIppies were kinda on their way out by the time got I old enough to know what they were and I live in a very small town, it used take awhile for trends to get here. But I grew up playing in the Flint River and Potato Creek that runs thru our town, fishing and hunting rock worms, so I guess folks these days just do not have any kind of practical experience with large moving bodies of water.
 
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