Teens save woman who nearly drowned

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Two college students became lifesavers after a woman almost drowned at a South Florida beach.

Friends Matt Ruiz and Kevin Cotay were at a beach Sunday night in Pompano Beach with several friends when they heard someone screaming. The teens immediately dropped everything and went to the rescue. "When we started to hear screaming and then all of sudden get submerged like half scream, that's when we were like, we freaked out, and I just dropped everything, and I ran out there," said Cotay.

"We hear this lady screaming, and he looked at me and says, 'Dude, I think something is wrong,'" said Ruiz.

The woman was fighting for her life in the dark ocean. Both Ruiz and Cotay came to the rescue and said it felt like a real game of Marco Polo. "All of sudden, she came up for maybe two seconds and screamed, and then she went under again, and I just went under there and just felt around, and I guess she was trying to come up again, and I grabbed her, and I held her up above," said Cotay.

"I went in, and he was already grabbing her and trying to pull her in, and then I picked up from behind," said Ruiz.

"She kind of freaked out for a second, and I guess she was trying to climb on top of me," said Cotay. Though the woman almost took them under water, Ruiz and Cotay never gave up and continued to save her. "And I held her head above water, and I tried to get her on my back, but she started to push me down. I had no idea what I was doing," he said.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue responded to the scene with an ATV and said they used the spotlights to locate exactly where the woman and rescuers were. "We went ahead and got that victim on the ATV, took her right up the beach to the waiting rescue unit where we transported her to North Broward Medical Center," said Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokesperson Sandra King. "She is very lucky to be alive, and I think she has these teens to thank."

Cotay said he felt responsible to go out and help the distressed swimmer. "I would have felt horrible if I knew someone was hurt out there, and I was sitting there on the beach doing nothing," he said.

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