Boys survive close call

Quick action on the part of two lifeguards Wednesday saved the lives of two young boys who nearly drowned at a private pool in Waynesboro.
The boys, ages 8 and 6, were taken to the Augusta Medical Center and are being treated at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. The 8-year-old boy was flown to Charlottesville in critical condition, while the 6-year old was driven to there by ambulance.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. at the Waynesboro Moose Lodge on Hopeman Parkway. Witnesses said the two boys, who had come to the pool with a babysitter, had just received sun block and entered the pool while the babysitter turned around to help the other children with her. Within seconds, both boys were underwater, witnesses said.
“It happened fast,” said club member Kathy Milhizer. “One of the girls ... rolled one of the boys up on his side and he was blue.”
Witnesses credited two quick-thinking lifeguards and club workers who got the boys out of the pool and began CPR.
“It appears to be an accidental near-drowning,” said Sgt. Kelly Walker of the Waynesboro Police Department.
According to Walker, two babysitters brought a group of children to the pool, including the two boys. They were both breathing when they were loaded into ambulances.
Walker said a babysitter observed one of the boys to be in trouble in the water and pulled that child out, but was unsure how the other child got out of the water. An off-duty lifeguard initiated CPR on the first child pulled from the water, he said, and a bystander initiated CPR on the other child.
The lodge closed for the day following the incident. Members say there is always at least one lifeguard on duty.
“I thought we’d lost that one,” said Judy Hopkinson, who works at the club, “and I said, ‘No, no, we’re going to get him back.’ ”
NBC 29 contributed to this report.