Brighten Your Day

Teen Heroes Rush Into Rough Surf And Save Two 11-Year-Old Girls From Drowning

March 24, 2023

Two teenagers rushed into the rough waters of Angels Beach in Australia to rescue two 11-year-old girls.

The two heroes have been awarded Bravery Medals by the Governor-General of Australia.

Elyse (far left) and Bella (far right) saved Chloe and Violet / Credit: ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross

On Jan. 20, 2021, Bella Broadley and Elyse Partridge were enjoying a picnic on the beach when a woman approached their group and asked for help.

"We were just having a little picnic at the beach with some girlfriends and this woman came up to us and was like, 'I can't swim and my girls are drowning,' and we just jumped into action," Partridge, now age 20, told ABC News.

The younger girls, Chloe and Violet, were caught in a riptide and overwhelmed by the waves. To make things worse, it was around 8 p.m. and getting dark.

"It was so rough, it was crazy," Broadway, 19, said.

"[I was] just swimming out and thinking, 'Oh my gosh, how am I going to get back in? This is bad'. But luckily I had the esky lid for part of the way to keep my head above the water and once I got to Violet I just swam for my life," she said.

Broadley handed the cooler lid off to Chloe and swam further out to get Violet. Partridge was close behind, and swam Chloe back to shore.

"I remember just grabbing my arms around her and trying to swim in, but we ended up hitting the rocks," Partridge said. "I ended up being quite bruised and had lots of cuts all over my hands from the rocks but obviously I'm fine and it would have been scarier in the water."

Eventually both girls were guided back to safety.

Later, Chloe and Violet described how they swallowed seawater and were increasingly exhausted by their fight to keep their heads above water. Violet needed to spend the night in hospital.

Bystanders and police told Broadley and Partridge that without their help, the younger girls would likely not have survived.

On Wednesday, Broadley and Partridge were named on the Governor General's Australian Bravery Decorations Honours List, which recognized 66 Australians for acts of bravery.