Prince Christian of Denmark was pulled from a rip current in Australia by a lifeguard, who is being called a hero.
The 10-year-old prince, who is second in line to the Danish throne after his father, was swimming at Mermaid Beach in Queensland when he got in trouble in a rip current,
CNN reported. Lifeguard Nick Malcolm saw the boy was struggling and swam out to get him.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark was at the beach and offered his personal thanks to Malcolm. Crown Princess Mary, the prince's mother, is from Australia and the royal family has been in the country vacationing.
The Telegraph reported that Malcolm was unaware the swimmer he saved was Prince Christian and said the lifeguard has refused to comment on the story. The
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that Malcolm has been overwhelmed by attention from international media and preferred to just continue doing his job.
"We got him before it got too serious, but he wouldn't have come back in," Malcolm's supervisor Stuart Keay told CNN affiliate 7 News.
Golf Coast chief lifeguard Warren Young told The Telegraph that Prince Christian was a "good little swimmer" and remained calm as the rip current caught him and pulled him farther offshore.
"The rip was pretty strong so he [Mr Malcolm] only had to paddle 10 metres [33 feet],” Young told the British newspaper. "He said 'do you want a lift in?' and the boy jumped on and away they went… He was fine and his parents thanked the lifeguards as they left the beach. It was all really low key. He didn’t know who it was until someone said ‘Oh that was the royal family from Denmark’ and Nick said 'Oh ok'."
Dr. Jak McCarroll, from Sydney University, told the ABC that rip currents kill about 20 people every year in Australia, many during this busy summer holiday period.
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