Boy scouts save drowning woman from floodwaters [Video]

• Joseph Diener, 16, and Dominic Viet, 15, were biking around when they heard a call for help.
• The two saw a woman clinging to a basketball hoop nearly submerged in floodwaters.
• The teens didn’t hesitate to help the woman, and brought her back to safety!

Surveying the damage of a massive rainfall, Joseph Diener, 16, and Dominic Viet, 15, were biking in their hometown in Columbia, Missouri with some other friends.

As they went along, they suddenly heard someone calling for help.

“We didn’t know if they were serious or not,” Joseph explained. “She said it twice before we got over there.”

The teens followed the sound and saw a woman in a bathing suit, hanging to a basketball hoop almost submerged in the floodwaters.

“We were like, ‘We can swim, we’re trained for this,’” Dominic told TODAY. “Then we were just like, ‘Let’s go.’ And then we just ran right in.”

The woman’s legs were cramping, so Joseph and Dominic grabbed her onto their shoulders. Although there “were some currents trying to pull [them] down,” the two managed to doggy-paddle back to the shore and saved the victim.

Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Jenkins said that the drowning victim was expected to be okay. He said that she “had entered the water to swim, to the best of our knowledge.”

The chief praised the two young boys who “come by and heard the distress calls…. for two 15- and 16-year-olds to react that way, it was very heroic.”

Joseph and Dominic are Life Scouts, the last level before Eagle Scout, who aren’t working on lifeguarding skills yet. Their scoutmaster, Morgan Dailey, told local NBC station KOMU that their honorary action might earn them badges.

“There’s a heavy emphasis on being prepared and especially being prepared for emergency situations,” Morgan told the outlet. “And this clearly was an emergency situation where there was a young woman that was struggling in the water.”

Albeit worried, the teens’ parents were proud of their sons, and grateful that they were safe.

Jeremy Diener, Joseph’s dad, still talked about the dangers of floodwaters with his son. Nevertheless, he was honored that Joseph did such “a really noble thing.”

Jeremy added, “But, if it causes you or somebody else harm in the process, it’s not worth it.” He further said that he was “proud that they would think to put somebody else above themselves right and want to and want to help them.”

Dominic’s mother, Monica Viet, was so worried, knowing that another storm would start rolling on. So, she was calling and texting her son, and got even more nervous when she saw an ambulance and fire truck — thinking that he could be in danger.

“You know, my mind went to the place where he was the one who was injured,” she said. “I didn’t realize that he was out there saving somebody!”

Later, Monica said, Dominic texted her: “Mom, I just saved a woman’s life.”

Source: MSN