A 10-year-old boy visiting California with his family briefly lost consciousness and went limp after powerful waves knocked him down, setting off a tense rescue that ended with a teenage lifeguard racing into the surf to save him.
Nathaniel Rai, from Dallas, Texas, was vacationing with his mother and sister when the family made a Saturday trip to Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz.
As Nathaniel stepped into the water, a sneaker wave surged much farther up the shoreline than expected and began pulling him out toward the ocean, Scott Vander Dussen told the Los Angeles Times.
‘From what I gathered, he assumed he was going to die,’ the boy’s father, Sumit Rai, told ABC 7 as he described the frightening ordeal.
‘He was drowning. He knew he was drowning. He blacked out. He went unconscious. When he came out of the water, he was clearly limp. It doesn’t look like he was breathing.’
Nathaniel survived because 16-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams reacted within moments, moving decisively as the situation turned critical.
Williams sprang into action after spotting the boy’s head bobbing amid the rough waves, launching a dramatic rescue that was captured on camera.
Nathaniel Rai, 10, of Dallas, Texas, was vacationing with his mother and sister when he nearly drowned at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California
Ryder Williams, 16, sprang into action on Saturday to rescue 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai as he was struggling in the water amid strong waves
Rai’s father told ABC 7 how his son briefly lost consciousness and went limp as ferocious waves slammed him down
Williams could be seen in the footage with his arms wrapped around the boy as waves surged all around them.
When the monstrous waves then crashed down, Williams was seen ducking underneath the water – refusing to let go of the young boy.
As they then approached the shore, fellow lifeguard Aaron Bohnen could be seen helping drag Williams and Rai up the beach.
Rai appeared to be limp as the lifeguards brought him closer to shore, before a third lifeguard lifted him up.
When they and good Samaritans then carried the boy to safety, those on the beach applauded.
Reflecting on the rescue, Williams said he was ‘at the waterline 15 yards downcoast of Tower 2, when I looked up and saw a child about 20 [yards] up from the tower lose his footing in ankle deep water.’
At that point, he ran into the water to try to reach the child.
‘After the first wave, I was unable to pull him out because he was limp and the waves were pushing so hard,’ Williams recounted in a statement to ABC 7 on Wednesday.
Williams held on to the young boy even as the heavy waves crashed down around them
Professional lifeguards said he was smart not to just wrap his floatation device around the young boy so that his airwaves remained above the water
Williams said he was unable to pull the boy out after the first wave becaue he was limp
‘There were two to three more waves before lifeguard Aaron Bohnen entered the water to help me. There were bystanders who jumped in to try to help and I yelled at them all to get back to shore.’
Once the boy was then safely back on the beach, Williams said he and Bohnen assessed the child, after which he resumed his regular lifeguard duties.
‘I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to return the child to his family safely,’ Williams said. ‘This is my job and I love what I do.’
He then added that he is ‘thankful for my fellow lifeguards who perform rescues just like this every day.’
But many who saw the video credited Williams with saving Rai’s life, with Vander Dussen claiming he had been just ‘moments from not coming back.’
‘A few seconds, a few degrees, a few yards of distance and this is a very different story with a very different ending,’ Vander Dussen said as he shared the video.
It quickly circulated on social media – even garnering the attention of President Donald Trump, who invited the teenager to the White House to receive a civilian honor.
‘We’re going to bring this heroic young man and his family into the White House, with perhaps, the boy he saved to give him a High Civilian Honor,’ the commander-in-chief posted on X, adding that the teen was ‘very brave.’
Fellow lifeguard Aaron Bohnen helped with the rescue after about two to three waves crashed down
The two lifeguards were able to pull the young boy to safety
Other lifeguards also said Williams handled the situation like a professional.
He intentionally dipped himself and the boy below the surf rather than battle the waves above, thereby minimizing exposure to the powerful currents that threatened to sweep them both deeper out to sea, Tom Gill, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘The first thing I see when I look at that video is an incredibly brave young man putting his life on the line to save someone else,’ Gill said.
‘That is so much water moving, so much power. The wherewithal, the poise, the training, the confidence to stay with that rescue – that had to take everything that young man had.’
Gill also said Williams ‘probably would have loved’ to just wrap his floatation device around the boy.
But instead his calm, steadfast effort kept the boy’s airways above the water as he methodically worked his way back to shore.
Wyatt Werneth, a spokesman for the American Lifeguard Association, added that the video shows Williams’ grit and determination.
‘He was above and beyond the standard,’ Werneth insisted. ‘Out of 100 16 year olds that we hire a year, I might have one that was up to the measure of this young man.’
In total, the teenager participated in five different rescues during his Saturday lifeguard shift alone at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz
Williams suffered ‘some road rash on his forehead’ after saving Rai, when he hit his head on the sand but was otherwise left unscathed, his father, Shane Williams, told the California Post.
The emotional toll of the rescue was also apparent when the teenager returned home from his lifeguard shift that day.
‘He told me when he got home, he said, “Dad I wasn’t going to let go of that kid because I knew if I let go of him, he was going to drown and I wasn’t going to let that happen,”‘ Shane recounted.
‘And it brought a tear to my eye when he said that. It was pretty amazing.’
Yet the teenager has apparently remained humble, telling his family only that ‘It was all in a day’s work’ and ‘This is what I do.’
He then wound up rescuing two others following the now viral moment with Rai in situations his grandfather, George Williams, said were ‘more gnarly.’
In total, the teenager participated in five different rescues during his Saturday lifeguard shift alone.
Shane said his son’s actions that day reflect the kind of caring person he has always been.
‘He just wants to give back to his community because he grew up there,’ the proud father said.
But Rai’s father said his family is just fortunate, ‘because of Ryder and those people that helped, that he actually survived this.’
‘God bless them and you know, thank you, I cannot express sufficient gratitude,’ Sumit said.
‘There’s nothing more valuable to me than my children. And to save one of them and their lives, especially at such a young, tender age, you know, which is such a premature way to lose someone, I can’t thank them enough.’
‘I’m just so grateful that Ryder and others were there to help pull him out and save his life,’ the father continued. ‘Otherwise, I can’t imagine what life would look like today.’
