Witness is forced to defend himself after filming a surfer in distress from the beach and slamming him as an ‘idiot’ and a ‘f***ing moron’ – when he didn’t lift a finger
- Aussie fisherman Willem Powerfish filmed a surf rescue
- A man’s surfboard leg rope was caught, drowning him
- Another man dove in and rescued the struggling surfer
- Commenters abused Powerfish for not helping the man
A man who filmed the moment a surfer struggling to stay above the water has had to defend himself from vicious commenters calling him a ‘moron’ for not helping.
Famous Australian fisherman Willem Powerfish shared a video of the surfer’s rescue on Tuesday.
It showed a surfer battling waves underneath a boardwalk as he fought to free his leg rope from his surfboard – with the rope appearing to be wound around one of the pylons.
Almost 50 seconds into the shocking video, another swimmer jumped into the water and hurried to where the surfer was stuck as Powerfish cheered him on.
Aussie fisherman Willem Powerfish filmed as a struggling surfer (above) was rescued by an onlooker
The brave swimmer managed to grab hold of the surfer and push him onto his board.
The pair then swam out from under the boardwalk and made their way to shore.
Eventually they made it onto the sand, laughing and giving each other a pat on the back.
However, commenters were quick to slam Powerfish’s lack of action instead of celebrating the heroic swimmer’s rescue.
‘Typical Aussie attitude, sit on your a** and watch,’ one wrote.
‘So why do you keep filming and not go and help him or get help for him you idiot?’ another commented.
‘Shame on the filming man who said he wanted go out,’ a third said.
‘The guy filming is a bigger moron than the one drowning,’ another commenter said.
The surfer was rescued by a heroic swimmer (together above) but many commenters slammed Powerfish for not rescuing the man himself
Powerfish responded to the cruel comments with an explanation, saying he would have further endangered the surfer if he’d attempted to rescue him.
‘I’m about 100m up the beach zoomed in and besides that I’m 180kg and very unfit, we both would of drowned,’ he said.
‘I’m trying to lose weight at the moment just in case something like this happens again and I can help.’
His defence saw hundreds more commenters support his decision to stay on shore.
‘Smart move knowing your abilities and not going in mate. Too many blokes end up dead trying to help a situation above their capability,’ one wrote.
‘Some people don’t realise how difficult it is to swim in the ocean. Add on the fact of trying to save another person who is in distress. Well done to the guy who jumped in,’ another person commented.
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