Toddler is rescued by a boater on Lake Michigan after winds push little boy on inflatable duck away from his family
- Beachgoers tried to save a toddler as he drifted away on Lake Michigan
- The little boy was in a floating toy which got carried by strong winds
- The boy’s mother kept on trying to grab her son but couldn’t reach him in time
- A fellow beachgoer then got onto his paddleboard in an attempt to recuse the child as the floatie toy flipped over sending the boy into the water
- A nearby boater then managed to pull everyone out of the lake and onboard
A boater ended up rescuing a toddler who had drifted out onto Lake Michigan in a heartstopping rescue all caught on camera.
Witnesses say a toddler was just seconds away from drowning after he drifted away from his family on a giant inflatable yellow duck while on Lake Michigan. The floatie then flipped over.
The little boy was carried out into the lake as his inflatable toy was driven by high winds on Monday afternoon off Washington Beach in Michigan City, Indiana.
It was only when a man, Dave Benjamin, decided to take matters into his own hands that the boy was saved as he used his paddleboard and grabbed the attention of a nearby boater to reach the child several hundred feet from the shore.
Beachgoers tried to save a toddler as he drifted away on Lake Michigan in a yellow inflatable
A fellow beachgoer then got onto his paddleboard in an attempt to recuse the child
The little boy was in a floating toy which got carried by strong winds and flipped him over
Before climbing onto his board, Benjamin, who is a water safety instructor, told the lifeguard and then entered the water to try and rescue the youngster.
As he paddled out in the lake, screams were heard on the beach as the inflatable duck was flipped over by the winds sending the boy into the water using just arm floaties to keep him above the water.
‘He’s being very active, moving, crying and then he fell off and now I’m just like, you know, we’ve got seconds if those floaties don’t keep him up,’ Benjamin told WBBM.
A nearby boater also raced to the scene to assist with the rescue of the toddler
The boater managed to pull alongside the toddler and paddleboarder and drag them to safety
Benjamin says there was a feeling of ‘exhaustion and high anxiety’ as the child’s inflatable was carried away by wind.
‘Seeing this whole thing unfold just created a feeling of exhaustion and high anxiety knowing that this child is going far and fast on this inflatable duck, and if this child falls in we’ve got to get to it immediately,’ he said.
He called to a nearby boat for help as he said the child started bobbing in the water, his hands ‘in the drowning posture.’
The nearby boater raced to the scene and a woman managed to grab the boy, from Benjamin, and pull them both to safety.
‘If that boat wasn’t there, there’s a strong likelihood that toddler could’ve submerged before I could’ve gotten there,’ he said to NBC Chicago.
Everyone was safe as the toddler and the paddleboarder were both pull onboard the boat
Benjamin said that not only the boy could have drowned, but some of the would-be rescuers could also have lost their lives.
‘When one child fell off the duck, she turned back to grab it but it had drifted away. It was drifting farther and faster than she could swim after it.
‘If we didn’t have that boater, I don’t know if I would’ve made it in time — I might have,’ he said. ‘It could’ve been a very tragic situation. … There was just sheer panic.’