19-year-old training to be nurse helped to rescue swimmers caught in rip current at Hampton Beach
By Matt Leighton & Arielle Mitropoulos
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HAMPTON, New Hampshire (WMUR) — Two people were taken to the hospital after being rescued from a rip current off Hampton Beach.
Hampton Fire Rescue said multiple reports of swimmers in distress caught in a rip current were received Saturday evening. It happened across from the Ashworth Hotel.
Before first responders arrived, bystanders went into the water to help the swimmers in distress back to shore, authorities said.
One of those bystanders was Ella Bezanson, 19. She isn’t a trained swimmer or a lifeguard.
On Saturday, she was just another person enjoying a beautiful night on Hampton Beach, until something caught her attention.
“All of a sudden, these people started screaming, so I looked over, and these two people are wicked far out,” Bezanson said.
Out in the surf were two swimmers who were struggling to stay afloat as a rip current pulled them out into the ocean.
“I had to go in and save them,” Bezanson said.
Without missing a beat, Bezanson’s dad said he watched her grab a boogie board and run into the water.
“Next thing I know, I looked to my right and she was already in the water,” he said.
Bezanson was able to grab one woman, helped her onto the board and then brought her back to shore as other firefighters tried to help the other person.
“She was so out of breath,” Bezanson said. “She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t do anything.”
Lifeguards say you can tell there’s a rip current if the water’s flat.
“Those are the dangerous areas they look inviting, but they’re not,” said Patrick Murphy, chief lifeguard of New Hampshire State Beach Patrol.
If you get caught in a rip current, guards say the best thing you can do is stay calm and swim parallel to the shore. They warn that jumping in to save someone else can mean risking your life too.
“If you come to the beach, know your ability,” Murphy said.
Bezanson is training to be a nurse. She said making sure those swimmers were OK felt like what she was meant to do.
“I wasn’t just going to watch them die,” Bezanson said. “I just want to help people. And I saw people in trouble.”
One woman who was saved told News 9 she’s doing much better, but her friend is still fighting for his life.
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