Lifeguard sacked for helping save man

A Florida lifeguard has been sacked for leaving his section of the beach to help save a man from drowning.

Tomas Lopez, 21, was patrolling Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, when he was told a swimmer was in trouble in an unguarded area of the beach.

"I wasn't going to say no," the lifeguard said.

But his bosses said he had broken company rules and could have put other swimmers at risk. At least two colleagues have resigned in protest.

"We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area," Susan Ellis of lifeguard provider Jeff Ellis and Associates told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Mr Lopez ran some distance to help the swimmer who had already been pulled out of the water by other beachgoers.

He and an off-duty nurse then helped the man until paramedics arrived to take him to hospital. The unidentified swimmer is said to be in intensive care.

Mr Lopez said he had no regrets about losing his £5.30-an-hour job.

"I think it's ridiculous, honestly, that a sign is what separates someone from being safe and not safe," he told CBS television.