Barbados: Two Montreal teenagers save a man from drowning in front of his helpless wife

The year started off strong last week for two young Montreal swimmers who narrowly avoided tragedy by saving a British man from drowning, to the cries of his helpless wife.

“We didn't know how much time we had left. So we jumped right in.” [jetées à l’eau]“, narrated Zoe Miklinsk-Ireland, 13, alongside Emma Basserman, 14, in Barbados today.

On Wednesday, the two teens, who were in Barbados in the Caribbean for an Olympic Trials training camp, were about to ride the last wave on small boards called “body boards” when they heard cries for help from a woman, whose husband was struggling to get back to the bank.

“I know how to swim, but I just couldn't get going at all. I wasn't going anywhere,” Brett Robert Stone, who lives in south London with his wife Belinda, told CTV News on Saturday.

Without wasting a single second, the two young swimmers rushed into the water, carrying their boards in their hands, to rescue the stricken man, after transporting his wife to safety.

“We put her husband on the surfboard and I tied the strap to my ankle and brought him back to shore, where he swam parallel to the shore, until the current was no longer strong,” she said. His father is a coach for the Dorval Swimming Club.

“He was having difficulty breathing, so the first words we heard out of his mouth were when he hit the sand […] Emma Basserman, who trains 21 hours a week and is aiming for the 2028 Olympics, added: “If we had been weaker swimmers, it would have been more disastrous.”

Once back on land, the teens were praised for their heroic gesture.

“I really feel like we have a good guardian angel watching over us,” Belinda said, looking at her husband with gratitude. “maybe [ange] Al-Kindi,” he added to CTV News.

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