Megan Elizabeth Allen helped to save Richard B. Bennett from drowning, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, August 14, 2010. Bennett, 59, was attempting to swim across a channel in Hog Inlet when he was swept by a strong tidal current out into the Atlantic Ocean. A man in a 14-foot skiff went out after him, but the boat capsized in the rough surf when he attempted to pull Bennett, who was unconscious, aboard. Allen, 25, sales assistant, was on a personal watercraft in the vicinity and came upon the men. She threw a line to them, but it fouled the motor of her craft, leaving it without power. With the other man remaining at his boat, Allen held to Bennett, who outweighed her, on the watercraft as it drifted away, its course taking them toward shore. When they reached wadable water atop a sandbar, Allen pushed Bennett onto the watercraft and shouted for help. Men responded from the beach and removed them to safety; likewise, the other man was returned to shore by others. Exhausted, Bennett was taken to the hospital for observation, and he recovered. Allen was tired and shaken after the rescue, and she recovered the next day.
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