The sea of Ostia has a lifeguard now considered the "guardian angel" of Roman vacationers: his name is Alin, 39, of Romanian nationality.
For several years he has been employed in the Bahia bathhouse and yesterday afternoon he was forced to intervene on a body of water not within his competence, saving a 15 year old, Roman, who almost fainted while taking a bath, after being seized by an illness.
The episode took place in correspondence with the free equipped beach managed by the Municipality of Rome known as the 'beach of the bride': a stretch of arernile that is currently unguarded by the lifeguard service, during the weekdays. But the intervention of Alin, fortunately, yesterday was providential: a 15-year-old just entered the water risked drowning if the lifeguard did not intervene promptly, who after having witnessed the scene ran a hundred meters of beach (he is also an expert of challenging obstacle course races such as the Spartan Race) and entered the water to save the boy.
"He wasn't very well - says Alin, lean athlete's physique, blue eyes like the sea - perhaps he had drunk something alcoholic, because on that free beach there was a party. We practiced resuscitation, while a colleague underwent called the ambulance, with which he was then transported to the nearby hospital in Ostia.
Safe and sound ". It is not the first time that Alin has saved lives in the sea of Ostia: last year, on June 27, the lifeguard reanimated a 12-year-old Romanian child who was about to drown.
The umpteenth intervention of the 'baywatch' of Ostia raises another current and very delicate question: the temporary lack of lifeguards, on weekdays, on the free equipped beaches of Ostia, managed by the Municipality of Rome.
"This is a serious problem because this beach bordering ours - explains Alin - is not equipped, except on Saturdays and Sundays, with the rescue service. So we are forced to intervene by the lifeguards of the neighboring establishments. But we are not always able to keep such a large stretch of coast under control. The Municipality should intervene as soon as possible ".