A selfless surf instructor jumped into action to save a drowning girl from oncoming waves on a Southern California beach.
The brave moment was captured on video by a bystander who witnessed surfing coach Lucas Taub, 28, swim out to a young girl, Coco Greene, 6, and her father, Chris Greene, who were struggling to stay above the waves in Oceanside last week.
The two were caught in a riptide during a surf competition, and Coco can be heard screaming for help.
Taub was able to get the girl and her dad safely back to the shore, where he carried Coco out of the water.
Taub, who’s been surfing his whole life and coaching for the last eight years, told The Post that fate put him in a spot to save the girl.
“On a typical competition day I coach from the sand. It was only because I was on a break that I decided just this one time to coach on the rocks,” he explained.
Taub said he spent a total of 20 hours on the beach that weekend, but that a five-minute decision to head to the rocks meant the difference between life and death.
“And within three to five minutes of me standing on the rocks, I saw the girl bobbing up and down in the water,” he said.
“I dove head-first in the water. I could tell it was a matter of seconds before they were both going to drown.”
The father later told Taub that he had been standing on the beach some 100 yards away when he noticed his daughter, who didn’t know how to swim, had gotten sucked into the ocean.
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Taub said the dad sprinted over but was winded by the time he got there and didn’t have enough energy to save them both.
“So the dad said once I dove from the rocks, I was like a guardian angel,” the instructor said.
Lifeguards eventually met them on the beach and helped the girl, who had swallowed a lot of water. Miraculously, no one required medical attention, Taub said.
Despite the terrifying ordeal, Taub said Coco wants to go back to the beach and isn’t afraid of the water. When she’s ready, the coach said he plans to give her surfing lessons.
“I don’t think I am a hero. I just think I am a normal person who stands for what’s right,” he said. “And we are put on this earth to take care of each other.”
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