“When I saw the three children drowning, the first thing I felt was fear. I took a deep breath. I knew I had trained for these extreme situations and that I was prepared to handle it. I thought about my son and how I might never see him again. I also feared that if one of those boys drowned, it would feel like losing my own child. I know this is something that can happen in my profession, but I was determined to give my life to prevent it.”
This is a gripping and moving story. Each word brims with the drama of an unexpected event that would forever leave its mark on his life. The speaker is Leandro Staltari, a 47-year-old Argentine lifeguard who, without realizing it, became an unsung hero this past summer in Mallorca.
On that Sunday morning in June, around 9:40 a.m., minutes before starting his workday, Leandro sprang into action. With remarkable courage, he rescued three Filipino children — ages 11, 12, and 13 — who were trapped against the rocks, 50 meters from the sandy shore of Cala Major beach.
“The rescue,” he recalls, “must have lasted two or three minutes — it all happened so fast. But it felt like five or ten minutes, an eternity. With the last child, I had a particularly tough time. I started swallowing water and was already battered from repeated hits against the rocks. In those moments, God tests you. He gave me a boost to my self-esteem — a way to convince myself of what I’m truly capable of.”
Leandro, the unexpected hero who emerged from the waves that day, had only completed his lifeguard certification in 2022. This was his second season patrolling the beaches of the Balearic Islands. Yet, as he describes it, he has “a relationship with the sea that is deeper than that of any lifeguard with over 20 years of experience.” His lifelong love for the ocean and sports has driven him to swim in open waters, fish recreationally, surf, and kayak.
This profound connection to the sea nearly cost him his life almost forty years ago. As a four-year-old in Necochea, a picturesque coastal area in southern Buenos Aires Province, he and his brother were swept into danger. A lifeguard vacationing on those rough shores saved them. “I can’t stop thinking about how I almost drowned,” Leandro reflects. “I feel like this rescue in Mallorca was my way of giving something back to life — what was given to me as a child, I had to return to someone else.”
Life leaves marks — like the scrapes and bruises he bore on his arms and legs from being slammed against the rocks. Or the scar on his head, a bridge between the reckless boy from Necochea and the heroic man of Mallorca.
Leandro remains captivated by the sea, a place that can exude peace but also unleash devastating storms. The sea, much like life itself, isn’t just something to look at as you pass by — it’s a teacher. Its lessons are there to be learned, carried forward, and shared, day by day.
Text by Sebastian Cerutti
