You may have heard the old adage ‘never turn your back on the ocean,’ well a woman from Logy Bay is repeating that warning after a recent incident on Middle Cove Beach.
Emily Barbour and her boyfriend Stephen Browne decided to pay a visit to Middle Cove Beach to watch the waves earlier this week.
They joined a woman, Lynn Palfrey and her son, when suddenly, things took an unexpected turn and a massive wave swamped the beach and pulled the mother and son into the frigid surf.
“All of a sudden, this bigger wave came in and we started running, and I heard her screaming and I just turned around and she was in the water, I could see the frantic look on her face. I just grabbed her and we rushed ashore as quick as possible.”
Emily Barbour says the waves came in suddenly, inundating the beach and pulling a mother and her son into the water (via Emily Barbour on Facebook)
Lynn Palfrey says they were well back from the shoreline, and did not think they were in any danger. She could not believe the force of the wave. All she was thinking of was getting her son to safety.
“She ran towards us, she heard me call out ‘help!’ and she ran towards us…” Palfrey says starting to choke up.
“She just pulled us out, risking herself as well from falling in. And she pulled (my son) out.” She says they ran up to the top of the beach and huddled together “because we were drenched from head to toe.”
Barbour says Palfrey and her son were wet and frightened but otherwise okay. They stayed huddled on the beach together to get warm and made sure they got back to their car and home okay.
Barbour says she dreads to think what might have happened had she and her boyfriend not been there.
“I’m just glad, and we thank God we were there to help.”
