Frightening footage shows the moment a teen found himself stuck in some beach mud as the tide rolled in.
It happened near the Encinal Boat Ramp in Alameda on June 26, and the clip shows the 14-year-old almost fully submerged by the time officials came around. He had been playing in the water, fire officials later confirmed to DailyMail.com
It then shows the frantic effort to rescue him, administered by a coalition of police officers and firefighters. It was filmed by a firefighter from an inflatable rescue boat, as they were on-scene assisting, the rep said.
The footage goes on to free the team finally freeing the boy, after using ‘a variety of methods’ including freeing the victim’s legs trapped in the mud below. Swimmers took turns going underwater to do so, as the tide continued to rise.
The effort ultimately proved successful, as his rescuers later compared the unseen mud to quicksand.
The incident occurred just after 12pm, officials added, and the victim has since been brought to a local hospital for observation. He has not been named, but fire officials recalled the scare in a subsequent post to social media.
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‘The Alameda Fire Department responded to the report of a teenager stuck in the mud adjacent to the Encinal Boat ramp just after 12:00 PM on 6-26-2024,’ the statement to the fire department’s Instagram profile read.
Published just hours later, it added how Alameda Police (APD) officers were first on the scene to initiate the rescue.
‘Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim was significantly stuck in the mud with a rising tide,’ the bulletin went on.
‘AFD and APD worked together to affect the rescue of the victim using a variety of methods.
‘The victim was removed from the water and transported to the hospital for observational purposes.’
The statement did not provide any more detail, but a rep from the fire department provided more insight in a statement Monday.
‘The victim was a 14 year old male who had been recreating in the water. The tide was rising and the water level was at the victims neck at the time he was removed,’ Alameda Fire Department PIO Kevin Tidwell said.
The video was taken by one of the Firefighters in the inflatable rescue boat that was on scene assisting.
‘A majority of Alameda Firefighters are trained and certified as Open Water Rescue Swimmers. Our firefighter/rescue swimmers respond to water rescue emergencies with rescue boards, rescue boats, or by swimming out to the victim,’ he said.
‘In this case, several Alameda Firefighters and an Alameda Police Officer conducted the rescue by trying to free the victim’s legs that were trapped in extremely squishy mud that was similar to quick sand,’ the firefighter continued.
‘Rescue swimmers took turns going under water to dig the victims feet out and ultimately used a hose line off a fire engine on shore to “hydro-mine” the mud to loosen it enough to free the victim.’
A name for the boy was not provided, but the accompanying video showing officials’ response tells most of the tale.
Just a few seconds long, it shows a team of at least six successfully prying the boy from his underwater prison.
One of the rescuers is seen almost entirely submerged as well, upside-down with his feet sticking out of the water as he presumably worked to loosen the mud’s grip
Four others, meanwhile, were seen surrounding the swimmer, somehow keeping his head above water as the tide continued to come in high.
While his face is censored, he appears to be gasping for air and exhausted – suggesting it was filmed at least a few minutes into the crisis.
It remains unclear how long the teen was actually stuck, but as one commenter observed, the rescue was much-needed.
‘Looks like you saved him just in time,’ the onlooker wrote.