York beachgoer revives drowning woman at Long Sands Beach

Officials say the bystander used CPR to revive the 20-year-old woman after she was pulled from the water.

A beachgoer saved a woman who was drowning on Long Sands Beach in York on Saturday afternoon.

The York Police and Fire departments responded to a report of a possible drowning at Long Sands Beach in the area of the Stones Throw Hotel and Restaurant around 3:45 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release.

By the time first responders arrived, a bystander had already jumped into action, removed the drowning victim from the water and performed CPR on her, according to the news release.

The 20-year-old woman was breathing on her own again when she was transported to York Hospital for further treatment. Her condition was not released.

Neither person’s name was released by authorities.

Last summer, lifeguards at some of Maine’s most popular beaches reported that an increasing number of swimmers were requiring rescue from the water, in large part because of an increase in potentially deadly rip currents.

Experts told the Press Herald at the time that the severe winter storms that walloped Maine in late 2023 and early 2024 reshaped the underwater topography of the surf zone, creating largely invisible underwater troughs and sandbars that are fertile ground for the formation of rip currents.