Florida shark fisherman saves girl caught in rip current with drone

CBS News

20-05-2025

A Florida shark fisherman is credited with saving a teenage girl trapped in a rip current, however, he never stepped foot in the water.
Instead, he used his drone to get a flotation device out to her as she was being pulled away from shore.
On Thursday, May 15, Andrew Smith had just clocked out of work when he reluctantly decided to head to Pensacola Beach to go fishing.
"I wasn't even going to go out, but then my friend convinced me to go," he said.
Pleas for help after girl trapped in rip current
Smith said they arrived at the beach around 7 p.m. and about 10 minutes later panic broke out.
"I was sitting there and this girl came running, asking if anybody could swim. I said no I absolutely could not swim. She was running and screaming and nobody could swim," he said.
Smith said while he medically can't swim because he has a seizure disorder, desperately wanted to help.
"Her friend was getting sucked more and more out, and I looked down at the drone and I was like, 'The drone can swim, but I can't'," Smith said.
That's when he sprang into action.
"I ran up and grabbed one of those (a flotation device) and ran back down to the drone. I flew it out and it was a terrible miss. I released it too early, it was really windy, like it wasn't close at all," he recalled.
Smith said at this point the teen girl had been battling the rip current for five minutes and he knew time was running out.
"I was shaking pretty bad, it was nerve wracking, I just about cried," he said.
Second shot success
Smith, however, didn't give up and another bystander gave him a second flotation device.
Robert Nay, who was on the beach, used his cellphone to shoot a video of what happened next. He said he had never seen anything like that before and the girl was "losing steam very fast."
"I flew it back out and after the first one I could tell how windy it was. So then I lowered it down, you had to go slower and slower down to her because that was it. That was the last opportunity we were going to have," Smith said.
The opportunity was not wasted and Smith's mission was successful.
"I lowered it until you could see her hands grab it, and then I lowered it a little more and I released it. Then she climbed on and started floating," he explained.
Smith said five minutes later first responders arrived on the beach.
"If it wasn't for that second drop, she wouldn't have made it. The EMS said she wouldn't have made it, the cops and the lifeguards," he said.
The girl was checked out by a medical team and sent home with a clean bill of health.
Nay called Smith a "true hero."
Smith said the teen's father told him he was much more.
"He talked to me for like five minutes, calling me his guardian angel and thanking me and stuff. It was pretty crazy," he said.
Smith said the ordeal is a good reminder for beachgoers to pay attention to the flag warning system that tells people if it's safe to enter the water.