Roy Poblete (left) and Derek Smith (right) saved the life of surfer George Romero last Sunday while all three were surfing SoCal’s Seal Beach according to a column in the OC Register. Now the three have been reunited.
By Smith’s guess, Romero had been under water anywhere between 45 seconds and a minute before he was able to reach Romero’s lifeless body. He pulled his head up from the water to see Romero’s eyes rolled back, foam coming out of his mouth. His body was going into convulsions, and he wasn’t breathing. . . . Smith – even at a hefty 6-foot 4-inches and 235 pounds – had trouble keeping Romero above water. He called out for help, and tried to get Romero on his board. Poblete quickly paddled over to see what was happening. . . Then the sets came in, three in a row. They dived Romero under the first wave, then Smith cut his leash to get his board out of the way, so he could hang on tight to George. Smith would submerge underwater, to push up on Romero’s body to keep his head from going under so he wouldn’t take in more water. . . “I knew if I let you go, you would have gone,” he tells Romero. “I was just thinking ‘hold onto this guy, hold onto this guy’.”
Thankfully, Smith held on.
[Link: OC Register]
