The Human Chain To The Rescue

A woman named Roberta Ursrey was at a beach with her family in Panama City, Florida on Saturday.  And her 8- and 11-year-old sons were too far out in the water.  It turned out there was a really strong riptide.

Their whole family swam out to get them.  Which just made things worse, because now nine people were stuck out there, and the current kept pulling them under.

Roberta says she thought she was about to lose everyone  Then in the middle of it, her mom started having a massive heart attack out in the water.

But luckily, a woman on the beach named Jessica Simmons realized what was happening, and started swimming out on a boogie board.  And meanwhile, her husband stayed back and got everyone on the beach to form a human chain.

Eighty people linked arms.  Some of them didn't even know how to swim but helped anyway, and stayed where they could stand.  And they rescued everyone.

They got Roberta's mom to a hospital, and she's recovering.  And her nephew broke his hand.  But no one else was seriously hurt.

Jessica said afterward that watching all those people work together was one of the most remarkable things she's ever seen.