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WATCH: AI helps save swimmer in trouble at Perth pool

WATCH: AI helps save swimmer in trouble at Perth pool

Perth Now30-06-2025
Incredible artificial intelligence that watches over swimmers at a Perth pool has potentially helped save a life after alerting lifeguards to a man in danger.
CCTV footage shows the moment a lap in the pool at Stirling Leisure in Inglewood became a fight for life.
The swimmer suffers a medical episode and sinks below the surface.
It is silent, but watching over the pool is amazing AI technology, which immediately detects the danger, sending lifeguards an urgent alert.
At the same time, a fellow swimmer spots the swimmer in trouble, realising something is wrong.
The footage shows fellow swimmer Ofer Lefelman diving to pull him out, as a lifeguard leaps into action.
'When I realised he's in distress, I dove down, picked him up, put him on my shoulder, made sure his head was above the water,' Mr Lefelman said. Ofer Lefelman witnessed the frightening incident. Credit: 7NEWS / 7NEWS
A rescue team was on standby when the man was pulled out of the water.
Lifeguard Cameron said as soon as he got an alert on his watch, he was able to see who was in trouble and where.
'That precious number of seconds, with the watch.. Possibly saved him,' he said.
'They were very quick - very fast, they grabbed all the gear we needed.
'I think it would have been a lot more stressful if I didn't have that initial alert.'
The AI lifeguard is a critical set of eyes on the pool, with swimmers tracked by CCTV.
The Lynxight system operated by the City of Stirling is able to pinpoint a person in distress, even if human lifeguards don't. Lynxight AI aquatic safety technology at Stirling Leisure in Inglewood. Credit: 7NEWS / 7NEWS
It sends an alert to human lifeguards via a smartwatch with an exact GPS coordination.
Royal Life Saving Society WA chief executive Peter Leaversuch said in drowning incidents, 'things can get critical very quickly'.
'This AI technology is just a fantastic tool that helps lifeguards to response quicker, and also its watching all the time,' he said.
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