Help came from the air for two teenage swimmers struggling in powerful surf, in what the local authorities called a 'world first'. A member of the public spotted the 16- and 17-year-old boys caught in a rip current in rough seas off Lennox Head, a New South Wales beach popular with surfers. A Westpac Little Ripper Lifesaver drone was quickly launched and directed to their location, where it deployed a life raft then used by the pair to get back to safety. Australia, whose 24 million people live mostly on the coast, had 291 drowning deaths in the year ending 30 June 2017