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A bit boy and his grandmother were swept two miles out to sea on a windy day while using an inflatable mattress to benefit from the warm weather.
The five-year-old boy was lying on the inflatable when his grandmother spotted him drifting away.
She wandered into the water to achieve him, but couldn’t make it back to shore. The pair then drifted two nautical miles out to shore.
Footage showed how a coastguard with a rubber ring around his torso reached the lad in the midst of the ocean.
The teen was lifted onto a patrol boat, where he was reunited along with his grandmother, who had been rescued moments earlier.
The scare took place off Castellammare di Stabia, within the Bay of Naples.
The boy’s grandfather had fallen ailing on the beach through the ordeal but received assistance.
After reaching the shore, the rescued pair were handed over to the emergency services for a check-up.
The Italian Coastguard said it ‘continues to induce the utmost caution and reminds the general public: avoid using inflatable mattresses, flotation devices or small rubber dinghies in strong winds’.
The boy’s dad, Gioacchino D’angelo, said: ‘I would like to thanks for saving my son and my mum. Hats off to you, thanks a lot!’
In 2020, a four-year-old girl on an enormous inflatable unicorn was swept half a mile out to sea in Greece.
The kid, who was within the sea off the coast of Antirrio, Corinth, had reportedly ‘escaped her parents’ attention’ and floated away.
Local media reports said that once they realised their daughter was out of sight, her parents contacted the port authorities, who alerted the captain of the local ferry, the Salaminomachos.
The captain found the kid in the midst of the ocean and manoeuvred the inflatable unicorn to safety.
The girl was returned to her parents unharmed, but local media reported it was not the primary time that beach-goers had been swept out to sea.
An elderly man apparently fell victim to the strong sea current on an inflatable mattress.
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