In a story of how residents came together to save one another amid dangerous conditions, Jensen Burrows and d’Sean Smith – as well as a dozen other jet skiers – rescued 100 people who were trapped in flooded homes in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
“They did a phenomenal job, not just with us. What we saw when we came out is that they continued to go back in and over and over again,” Michael Pintard, the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources in the Bahamas, told CNN on Friday.
Burrows and Smith, two friends that are part of the GB Jet Ski Club, were the men that drove their jet skis to save the minister and his family. Jason Albury rode on board to navigate them to the minister’s house and help with the rescue.
“The wind was pelting you, so it felt like rocks being pelted at you. I had his daughter and my friend, and the jet ski tipped over, “Smith said. “Jensen had the minister and his wife and Jensen also flipped over. He insisted we take the daughter and wife to safety first, so we did and came back for him.”
Before the dramatic rescue of the Pintard family, Smith and Burrows had tried to rescue Smith’s cousin on Monday. Conditions were too rough to ride safely, but they had to try.
After a few failed attempts to ride out on Monday, the pair made it to Pioneers Way, a street south of the decimated Grand Bahama Airport. They say they saved dozens of people pleading for help, among them pregnant women and even a baby in a Styrofoam cooler.
Read more about their rescue missionhere:
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings