A quick-thinking scuba diver prevented a possible drowning off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, when he spotted a dive companion panicking during ascent. Video of the incident, uploaded in January 2015, but only later going viral, on August 11, 2016, shows a woman pulling off her mask and regulator.Steve Gerber, who shot the video and came to the woman’s aid, described the incident to Storyful, writing, “She would have drowned as her buddy was just as inexperienced as she was.”
“Due to the bad visibility we got separated from the dive master,” Gerber wrote. “I just tried to keep everyone together and decided to ascend. After communicating this through to all the members and starting the descend I noticed that she was not ascending and could see she was starting to panic. I actually started to swim towards her before she ripped off her mask and regulator.” Credit: YouTube/Steve Gerber