Teen girls, 13 and 14, — including Olympic-hopeful — rescue UK couple from riptide in Barbados

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by Alyssa Guzman

Earlier this month, two teenage girls, including one who had dreamed of swimming in the Olympics, jumped into dangerous rapids to rescue a British couple who had nearly drowned on a beach in Barbados.

Emma Basserman, 14, and Zoe Ireland-Meklensek, 13, are credited with saving the lives of Belinda and Robert Stone, the latter of whom is about twice their size, on January 3.

The Canadian teens took action after hearing Belinda’s cries for help on the beach, which had no lifeguards at the time.

The couple, both in their 60s, were floating in the ocean after a peaceful afternoon on a beach in Barbados when they were caught in dangerous rapids.

“We swam out. It wasn’t very far, but it was enough to get us out of the depths.” Belinda told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

The Londoners, who both consider themselves strong swimmers, were holidaying in the area, but had no idea the beach was known for its rapids.

Belinda tried to swim back to shore against the current, but soon realized that her husband could not keep up and was far behind.

The 64-year-old man continued to swim towards the shore screaming for help.

After several minutes of screaming, she began thinking the worst and told The Washington Post that she wished she had “left a suicide note on the dining room table.”

But their vacation didn’t end in tragedy, as Mr Basserman and Mr Ireland-Meklensek spotted her from 85 feet away and swam to the Briton.

“I could hear them screaming in the water,” Ireland Mecklensek told City News.

“The adrenaline was pumping and everything I learned came back to me in that moment,” Basserman, who is training for the Olympics, told Canadian media.

The two Montreal teens helped Belinda onto a boogie board and began swimming parallel to the shore to get her to safety, but Belinda told them her husband was still in the water. .

“She said her husband was further away and was having trouble swimming,” Ireland Meklensek told the Washington, D.C.-based newspaper. She said: “I told her to stay strong and tied the string of her boogie board to her wrist. Her girlfriend Emma was by her side to support her.”

After taking her to shore, they jump into the sea despite Belinda’s warnings not to because she is still young. The girls dismissed the story and said they were in town for a swim camp and had some experience playing in the water.

The girls swam 165 feet to catch Robert, 68, and used a board to pull him to safety, reassuring him: “My wife is okay and he’s going to be okay,” Ireland said. Meklensek said.

Despite her experience, Ireland Mecklensek admitted that her second trip was tiring as she “kept being pulled by the current”, but said she managed to get out of the dangerous situation.

Afterwards, the girls said they had become a “really good team” and Belinda said she was surprised by their “calmness”.

“I don’t think there are many girls like Zoe or Emma. I just can’t understand how calm and collected they were,” she told The Washington Post. “What an example for others. These girls were wonderful and so modest.

“They really looked like an angelic couple on that beach.”

Both girls have been competitive swimmers for many years, and Ms. Basserman is currently training for the Canadian Summer Olympic Swimming Team Trials with coach Chuck Meklensek, Ireland Meklensek’s father. There is.

Ireland-Meklensec stopped competing last year to focus on basketball.

Meklensek said she was “really proud” and “impressed” by the girls’ courage. He also told The Washington Post that he was shocked that they were able to pull a man his size to shore on their own.

The Quebec Lifesaving Society plans to honor the girls’ heroic deeds, as well as a school in Mecklensec, Ireland. According to Global News.