Puerto Escondido’s lifeguard corps have a new all-terrain vehicle to aid in their life-saving duties thanks to a California foundation.
The Zicatela-based lifeguards have been performing their duties without a dedicated vehicle for close to a year. That changed after a Facebook post two months ago by Puerto Escondido photographer Edwin Morales.
Morales shared a three-minute video of a rescue performed by lifeguard Daniel Guevara at Zicatela after a young woman was dragged in to the water by the historic swell recorded at the time.
Morales commended Guevara and the entire corps, remarking on the dangerous conditions in which they have to carry out their duties. The situation is made worse by the inadequate wages paid to the lifeguards by authorities, he wrote, adding that they also fail to provide appropriate equipment.
The video gained traction online and soon reached Skeeter Leeper and Spencer Pirdy, two California lifeguards who collaborate with the Ben Carlson Memorial & Scholarship Foundation.
The story’s happy ending was the foundation’s donation of the all-terrain vehicle.
The foundation was formed to leverage Ben Carlson’s legacy through doing positive work in his memory. A lifeguard himself, Carlson lost his life in the line of duty on July 6, 2014.
With reports from Estado Actual
