Two teen girls are being praised for rescuing a couple while on vacation in Barbados. Emma Bassermann, 14, and Zoe Ireland-Meklensek, 13, were boogie boarding when they noticed that people needed help. "I overheard a faint call for help," Zoe told CBC. The Canadian teens helped Belinda, 64, who was drowning, get on a boogie board and brought her back to shore.
“Adrenaline kicked in so we weren't really thinking much except to get them to safety as fast as we could but I will say, well, I was pretty scared and worried about their safety and our own," Zoe told CBC.
Belinda told the girls that her husband was "further out, and he was struggling to swim." Belinda and her husband, Robert Stone, 68, had gotten caught in a rip current. Belinda was worried about the girls getting back into the water, but they got back in anyway and rescued Robert.
Emma told CBC that Belinda and Robert were extremely appreciative. "They were thanking us so, so much," she said. "They were talking about how stressed they were and how they got pulled apart and how the ocean was really, really strong and the undertow took them out to the ocean."
Zoe also told the outlet that the couple thanked her mom for teaching her the skills that allowed her to safely rescue the couple.
Emma is hoping to represent Canada as a swimmer and is training for Olympic trials. Both girls have been competitive swimmers for several years.
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The teens explained to CBC that they swam parallel to the beach to safely reach the shore.
Though many have praised the teens for their heroic efforts, Zoe said, "We see it as something that any human would do. If you see someone in danger, you go out and you act on it and you help them."
From Belinda's perspective, though, the girls are "tremendous and so self-effacing."
“I do not think that there are many girls like Zoe and Emma. I just cannot get over how serene and poised they both were,” Belinda told The Washington Post.
