A Manatee County native serving in the U.S. Navy is being hailed as a hero after a daring water rescue off the coast of California.

Cale Foy said he was out hiking with his family on the coast of San Diego when he spotted a boat and its passengers in distress. Officials believe the 30 people on board the boat were being smuggled into the United States. 

Foy said he watched as the boat was ripped apart after crashing into a reef.

Foy spent the last 17 years as a rescue swimmer in the Navy so he didn’t think twice about jumping in the water to help save several people before other rescue crews arrived. He had help from another service member he had never met before. Foy said they came up with a plan within seconds. Part of that plan included using one piece of debris to bring all of the survivors to be rescued from.

“As those passengers or survivors would make their way to that floating debris, I went and picked up at least two unconscious survivors there initially to bring them back to that floating debris,” Foy said.

“They were unconscious. They were face down. No floatation, it was just kinda like a really sad moment to realize, I knew that there was a bunch of preservers that washed ashore and those people didn’t get them.”

Sadly, three people died according to officials. The suspected smuggler believed to be operating the boat is in custody.