76-year-old Azat Melkonov is the oldest active lifeguard in Varna. He has worked as a lifeguard for 57 consecutive seasons, without missing a single summer since 1969.
He is also one of the emblems of the Varna beach and is known for having saved nearly 100 people during his career, BGNES reported.
“Since I have been working, I have not had a single drowning, I have saved many, but not a single death!“, said the lifeguard.
Azat loves his job, but he gets angry at the inconsiderateness of some people and those who underestimate the sea.
“I love my profession, but people are naughty. Mothers stand on the shore, and children go to the buoy, and it sinks in the water and cannot hold them. Then they say that the lifeguard did not do his job. I have saved many from such cases. They think you are joking. Years ago I had a case in which I saved a man who was swimming 10-15 meters behind the buoy. The other lifeguard and I managed to pull him to shore. I explain that the lifeguard answers to the buoy, but they do not listen!“.
Although Azat Melkonov does not remember everyone he saved, there are some interesting stories that he will remember forever.
“One day there was a yellow flag and I was just coming and I saw how some people were lying on a mattress that was floating and going behind the buoy. I ran and jumped over the rocks to meet it. And when I got to them I saw that they were naked. This is the first time this has happened to me. They had fallen asleep on the mattress and their swimsuits had fallen off. Then they thanked me, brought me a bottle of vodka and candy“, the rescuer laughs. He jokes that for so many years and so many people saved from the water, there were days when he had over 10 large boxes of candy at home.
When asked how long he thought he would be a rescuer, Azat Melkonov replied that he was not sure: “I ask myself the same question and my wife asks the same thing. I will give up myself if I can't anymore, but now I still have the strength! I will feel when!“.