Twelve children were rescued from the waters of Santa Cruz, California, after the sailboats they were in capsized in strong waves Sunday, officials said.
According to the Santa Cruz Fire Department and other officials, the children participated in a sailing class near the mouth of the Santa Cruz harbor late Sunday afternoon. About 20 people were sent into the water.
There were no serious injuries, and all the children were wearing life jackets, but when a fire department first showed up there, it was said that five of the children were not being held accountable, the fire department said. They were found and rescued within 15 minutes, and one of the five was previously rescued by the harbor patrol.
The video, recorded by a bystander, shows the boats being overturned by a strong wave, reports NBC Bay Area. Firefighters helped with the rescues, firefighters said.
“We immediately came to the rescue and grabbed children who were most in need,” Shane Skelton, one of the rescuers, told the station. He and others entered the next wave and moved other children away from the rocks.
The Santa Cruz Yacht Club, which runs the sailing school, said in a statement that it was investigating what happened and would take steps to prevent another incident like this.
The fire department said life jackets “definitely played a role in their survival and made a positive outcome for it.”
Santa Cruz is a coastal city along Monterey Bay, about 15 miles south of San Jose.
The National Weather Service’s office in the San Francisco Bay Area warned of high surf conditions on Sunday, and more high waves are expected Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon for the Bay and Central Coast.
