Drone rescues Australian swimmers in world first

Two teenage Australian swimmers became the first people to be rescued in the ocean by a drone on Thursday.

The pair got caught in three-meter swells while swimming off Lennox Head in New South Wales, near the border with Queensland.

Beachgoers onshore raised the alarm to the lifeguards who happened to be preparing for a training session on using drones to pull swimmers to safety. The practice turned into a real rescue as the drone pilot deployed the aerial lifesaver in moments, which dropped a self-inflated rescue pod to the distressed teens caught in rough seas.

The two swimmers were exhausted but unharmed.

The aerial rescue only took 70 seconds, three times faster than a routine rescue.