A pair of teens in Australia unwittingly wound up making history when they became the first people ever to be saved by a drone while out at sea.
The remarkable rescue took place in the waters off the village of Lennox Head on Thursday after beachgoers noticed that the two boys had gotten themselves into a rather precarious position.
Stuck in a nearly ten foot high swell almost a half-mile from shore, the exhausted youngsters were in dire need of rescue.
And, as luck would have it, lifeguards just so happened to be learning how to operate a newly-unveiled drone designed for just such an event.
Incredibly, they were able to pilot the drone over to the boys in a mere 70 seconds and drop a 'rescue pod' containing a self-inflating raft.
The successful save is the first time that a drone has ever been used for such a rescue operation and the precision with which it was accomplished suggests that UAV technology could be a game changer for lifeguards in the future.
Although the two teens were, no doubt, thrilled to be rescued, we're guessing that they would have preferred not to have served as the proof of concept for the rescue drone program.
Source: abc.net.au