A pioneering drone lifeguard service rolled out across Spanish beaches saved the life of a 14-year-old boy this month as he struggled against a powerful tide off a beach in Valencia, its operators have said.
The drone dropped a life vest into the sea that was able to keep the teenager afloat just as he started to sink below the waves, until a physical lifeguard team arrived moments later.
"When we arrived what we saw was a kid that was in very bad shape, with almost no energy to keep floating, so I sent over the life vest," Miguel Angel Pedrero, drone pilot for General Drones, the firm that supplies the technology, told Reuters.
