At 9:00 pm, our Spanish Search and Rescue (SAR) team, operating as part of the Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency, received a call from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Valencia for an urgent mission. A boy, approximately 10 years old, had been missing on Oliva beach (Valencia) since about 17:00, when he slipped out of sight during a walk with his family.

Multiple ground teams and drones were already searching the area, and we were tasked with a coastal contour search from the southern breakwater, in case he was hidden among rocks. Our start-up and departure from Valencia Airport were immediate. Once we informed ATC this was a real rescue, we were cleared to take off and proceed straight to the operating area, saving valuable minutes.

Through the maritime emergency channel, a firefighters’ boat explained that they had been searching the waterline out to one nautical mile, but were returning to port to refuel, leaving no assets actively searching offshore. Given the sea state and wind parallel to the coastline, our SAR team decided to restart the search from the shoreline in parallel tracks pushing seaward. Using searchlights and night vision, our crew detected a heat signature roughly 400 metres offshore.

“What we saw looked devastating… The body of a child, fully extended, floating face-up with no visible signs of life, intermittently dipping under the waves. With the firefighters’ boat already out of the area, we prepared to recover him before he could sink,” highlights Captain Jose Costa, of the SAR team. “Then, in a split second, everything changed — under our light he opened his eyes and rose upright in the water. He was alive, but barely moving, likely in severe hypothermia. The mission instantly turned into a race against time.”

The crew deployed the rescuer as fast as possible, pulling the boy from under the surface, unconscious, secured him into the sling, and hoisted into the cabin. Inside the cabin, the crew worked nonstop to stabilise him and rushed to Hospital La Fe.

As always, this outcome was the result of a great team working as one: the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, aircrew, on-scene responders, and the technical capabilities that make these missions possible. Our sincere congratulations to our SAR team for this mission, led by Captain Jose Costa and composed of CoPilot Ysabel Martí, Hoist Operator Raúl Ares, and the Rescuer Felipe Bosch.