Former expat launches search for man he saved from drowning 25 yrs ago

dubai — A British man who used to live in Dubai has taken to social media to find a man he rescued from drowning off the coast of Jumeirah Beach nearly 25 years ago. He could remember that moment as if it happened yesterday — and, now, he just wanted to know if that young man he pulled ashore is doing fine today.

James Freestone, a senior MEP commissioning manager who lived and worked in Dubai between 1995 and 1997, posted on the nostalgic online community ‘Dubai–The good old days’ on Facebook, saying: “I am looking to contact the man I saved from drowning off Jumeirah Beach

in Dubai. The incident happened in 1996 or 1997.”

Recalling the incident over the phone, Freestone, who currently resides in Muscat, Oman, told

Khaleej Times: “I think it happened around Christmas time of 1996 or 97. The Burj Al Arab was still under construction, and I had gone body surfing about 4km away from the hotel towards Jebel Ali.”

While he was surfing, he realised that the water turned ‘erratic’ and he almost drowned from exhaustion while trying to ride the waves.

A couple of minutes later, Freestone noticed a few young men get out of the water — and one of them was waving at another person who was approximately 30 to 40m away from the coast. His instinct told him it was a distress wave — so he rushed to his car, got his surfboard, and swam back into the water to rescue him.

“The man I saved may remember me swimming up to him and asking if he was OK and him replying ‘No’. Hearing that reply, I immediately gave him my bodyboard.” Freestone realised the young man was exhausted as he could not hold the board and started sinking. “I initially pulled him up by his arm, and he managed to hug the board, but he was too big to hold it that way, so I switched to pulling him up by his trunks.

When the men finally got to shallow water, Freestone assured him that he was safe and can walk to the beach. “He was unresponsive. With the help of two men, we pulled him out to the beach. I borrowed a phone to call an ambulance.

“The last time I saw him was when the ambulance was leaving. After which, an older man approached me and asked if I was the person who saved his son. I said I was, he thanked me and took my number, but I never heard from anyone,” he said.