A drone lifeguard helped save a 14-year-old boy in Spain from drowning as he started to sink beneath waves in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to Reuters, the drone dropped a life vest for the teenager to help him stay afloat until human lifeguards could arrive by jet ski.
"When we arrived, what we saw was a kid that was in very bad shape, with almost no energy to keep floating, so I sent over the life vest," Miguel Angel Pedrero, drone pilot for General Drones, told Reuters. "Because of the heavy waves, it was a complicated maneuver, but we finally managed to give him the vest, and he could float until the lifeguards reached him by jet ski.”
Drones have helped monitor Spanish beaches since 2017, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported that the unidentified boy was treated at a hospital and released a day later.
Drones are also being utilized to assist swimmers on American beaches. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed drones to monitor shark activity. The state deployed the drones after three reported shark attacks at New York beaches.