Two Men Saved Four 'Unattended' Children From Drowning, Said Parents 'Didn't Do Much

Two men recently saved four "unattended" children from drowning at a New Zealand beach, The New Zealand Herald reported.

But when the children were finally reunited with their parents, one of the rescuers said that the parents "didn't do much."

According to The New Zealand Herald, Jacob Laban was at Murrays Bay on January 3 when he noticed four children—all thought to be 10 and under—caught in a rip current.

"Rip currents are channeled currents of water flowing away from shore at surf beaches," defined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "They typically extend from near the shoreline, through the surf zone and past the line of breaking waves."

While many rip currents don't pose a threat to beachgoers, NOAA said that they are "particularly dangerous for weak and non-swimmers."

That being said, rip currents can reach "dangerous speeds" and can take "even the strongest swimmers out to sea."

In the event that a swimmer finds themselves caught in a rip current, they should remain calm and "swim across the current in a direction following the shoreline," advised NOAA.

"When out of the current, swim and angle away from the current and towards shore," NOAA continued.

"If you can't escape this, try to float, or calmly tread water. Rip current strength eventually subsides offshore. When it does, swim toward shore," NOAA added.

When Laban called out to the children, they started to panic, so he swam out to help them. Upon arrival, however, he found that only two children were wearing floaties, rendering it impossible to bring all four children to shore at once, he told The New Zealand Herald.

"I knew I couldn't save all four of them, so I had to choose between the four. I just grabbed the one that was panicking the most," he said.

Thankfully, Laban's brother-in-law Joe Lasini saw what was happening and managed to save the other two children.

Once they were back on land, the children ran to their parents at the other end of the beach.

Though the children were reportedly "bawling their eyes out" when they reached their parents, Laban said the parents didn't seem overly distraught.

"They didn't know anything until my mum went there and started explaining what happened. They just said thank you, they didn't do much," Laban told the paper, adding that it was "disappointing" to find that the parents hadn't been supervising the children.

Laban's sister said: "We could have lost my husband and my brother there on that day and yet these people are...sitting there."

All things considered, Laban told The New Zealand Herald that he was "glad" he was at the beach that day.

"[I am] glad we were there, otherwise it would have been a different story. It might have been a sad day," he said.