Remote controlled lifebuoy thrown from Frying Pan Tower used to help save mans life

BRUNSWICK COUNTY (WWAY) — U-Safe. A remote controlled, self-propelled lifebuoy that can be deployed to help save lives in the water.

Frying Pan Tower’s Executive Director Richard Neal recently showed WWAY how it worked during a trip to Frying Pan Tower in March. Not long after that, Neal got to put it to the test when he used it to save someone for the first time. A diver was in trouble, after drifting three quarters of a mile away from the boat.

“Well most people they get in the ocean and they don’t know they’re in trouble until its a little bit too late, and this guy didn’t either. So, as he got further and further away and the boat captain didn’t even notice he was going away, it became obvious to us that we needed to throw the device over the side and run it out to him,” Neal said.

Using just a few buttons and a joystick, Neal and his team were able to rescue the man with the U-Safe. Neal was glad the man wasn’t another statistic.

“Sometimes people don’t know how close they were to being in some really dangerous situations. He was glad that he still had the fish that he had speared, rather than the fact that we kept our eyes on him literally traveling almost a mile away from his boat,” Neal said.

But at the end of the day, Neal thinks the devices can be beneficial and hopes to see more people using them.

“I just want to be an intermediary to make sure we can get the devices to the right hands. Because when you throw this in the water, it is way faster than any swimmer and it can pull two adult grown men right back to shore,”

Frying Pan Tower is also in the final days of a raffle where proceeds go towards the towers restoration. The winner of that raffle can win a grand prize.