A group of beachgoers formed a human chain to rescue a woman swept out to sea by a huge wave while reading near the shore.
Eliana López, 34, said the sea dragged her “further and further away”, leaving her unable to make her way back to safety.
“I couldn’t manage to stand up and it was dragging me further and further away,” she recalled.
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An onlooker alerted the emergency services after spotting Eliana struggling in the water at around 1.45pm on Sunday (25 October).
A man initially rushed into the choppy sea to help but struggled to reach her as the rough conditions threatened to pull him away too.
Other beachgoers quickly joined the rescue, with an initial group of five linking hands before others joined until around 10 rescuers were involved.
Footage showed the group working together to grab the woman and pull her towards the sand as she appeared too exhausted to get out by herself.
Eliana was given medical attention on the beach before being taken by ambulance to hospital where she was treated for mild hypothermia.
Speaking after the terrifying incident, Eliana said she had seen other people on the beach and thought it was safe to sit near the water.
“I saw there were more people on the beach, I felt safe, I saw that the sea seemed normal and sat down on the sand,” she said.
She said watching the rescue footage had been distressing, and thanked those who risked their lives to save her.
“To all those people who gave me their hand, who risked their lives for me without even knowing me, I want to tell them I am truly grateful,” she said.
Eliana, who comes from Colombia, had arrived in A Coruña, Spain, just 15 days earlier to begin her master’s studies at the local university.
The rescue took place at Riazor Beach as a yellow weather warning for dangerous coastal conditions was in force.
Waves of over four metres were forecast along the coast, as reported by Need To Know.
A Coruña mayor Inés Rey praised the rescuers but strongly criticised the circumstances that led to the incident.
She described sitting by the sea in such conditions as “absolute irresponsibility” and said it was “not the best day to go and read by the water”.
She also warned that the rescuers themselves could have been swept away, asking what might have happened if nobody else had been on the beach.
Rey stressed that weather warnings and safety measures were not introduced “on a whim”, and urged people not to put their own lives or those of would-be rescuers at risk.
Nuria Rodríguez, president of Galicia’s lifesaving and rescue federation, urged people to call the emergency services first rather than instinctively entering the water.
She warned that an ill-judged rescue attempt could put additional lives at risk, saying it was better to have one casualty than multiple.
The dramatic rescue has highlighted how rough seas can turn dangerous, even for people sitting close to the water.
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