'He wasn't moving': Man tells story of feeding air to drowning boy at NMB's Avista

Somebody yelling for help caught the attention of a Pennsylvania correctional officer. He jumped out of the hot tub and into the pool where a 12-year-old boy's leg was stuck in a suction line at a North Myrtle Beach resort pool.

Shaun Skursky, who had traveled from Plains, Pennsylvania with his girlfriend and children to visit an aunt, recalls jumping in the pool and seeing a child stuck, unable to come up.

"When I got there, he wasn't moving," Skursky said. "I was assuming he was maybe dead."

"Something popped into my head that he needed air. I started going underwater and blowing air into his mouth," he said.

During the course of events, Skursky's girlfriend Melanie Duncan ran to the office to see if the lazy river filter line could be turned off and she called 911. A New York State corrections officer also helped rescue the boy.

"By the time EMS showed up, they had stopped the filters," he said. "It happened fast but it felt like forever."

Skursky said the incident was like something he's never dealt with before, and hopes to never deal with again.

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," he said.

The corrections officers were invited by North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety to receive life-saving awards for their service, along with local first responders who assisted with the rescue.

Skursky said the boy's mother thanked him for helping save her child.

"She thanked me for everything," he said. "And said if it wasn't for the actions I took, she wouldn't have a son."

Hannah Strong: 843-444-1765, @HannahLStrong

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 11:38 AM with the headline "'He wasn't moving': Man tells story of feeding air to drowning boy at NMB's Avista."