– It was a mother who came screaming when we were down on the beach. She asked me to call the emergency number. Then we discovered that he was out at sea and that he was on his way out, says Julian Nordholmen from Levanger.
He was on the beach at Rinnleiret, outside Verdal when a six-year-old boy suddenly disappeared from the swimming area. The strong wind had led the boy, who was lying on an air mattress, quickly across the fjord.
– Then I decided to try to swim after, says Nordholmen.
He threw himself on an inflatable crocodile and swam as fast as he could.
The little boy could not swim either.
MANY REMOVED: The emergency services searched for the person with the rescue helicopter and air ambulance.
Photo: Tariq Alisubh / NRK
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The air ambulance pulled out
Nordhagen saw that the strong wind made the boy float out quickly. He failed to catch him again. Another woman, who had gone swimming before him, tried the same thing, but she too had to give up.
It did not take long before the air ambulance and rescue helicopter from Ørland arrived at the scene. Divers were also involved in the search for the missing boy.
– He was rescued by volunteers who came in a boat, says Nordholmen who mentions that he himself was picked up by a boat from the sea.
Nordholmen says he saw the boy healthy and whole on the way in.
– It was good to see!
The police praise the volunteers
– The boy on the air mattress has been rescued thanks to the heroic efforts of the audience who have swum out and made sure that he has not been off the air mattress, the police wrote on Twitter at 16:43 today.
The police state that they notified the missing person at 14.37.
– He could not swim and that was the starting point for us to move out, says Toril Susegg, police officer and prevention at Verdal and Levanger sheriff’s office.
She emphasizes that the boy is safe.
– A major operation was launched to save the boy and he was found on the fjord here by a boat with volunteers who picked him up.
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