Dad uses 'superhuman strength' to save his baby from drowning

A dad showed lightning reflexes, quick thinking and incredible strength to save his son from drowning.

It was a normal Sunday afternoon in West Palm Beach, Florida, where 18-month-old toddler Rocco Passavanti was chasing after an inflatable beach ball which lay in the Passavanti swimming pool, as the family watched on. Heading through an open gate, Rocco walked around the edge of the pool, before falling in.

His father Albert Passavanti reacted immediately - and vitally.

"The second you see it; you get Superman strength and just have to go for it," he explained to WPTV. "Whatever you got to do."

Here's the horrifying moment, as reported by WPTV:

Albert didn't even think to go around to walk through the gate. "It didn’t even cross my mind to go around, it was point A to point B," he explained, diving right into the pool and grabbing his son before anything bad could happen to him. Both Rocco and Albert escaped unharmed, but the whole moment was captured, in a split second, by a Nest camera overlooking the neighbourhood pool.

"When I first saw that video, my mouth dropped to the floor, 'Oh my goodness!'" said Anna Stewart, manager of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County.

"You can drown also, but we know parents are going to do what they’re going to do, right? They’re going to go in and save their children," she added, explaining that it wasn't exactly the correct way to go about saving Rocco. If you ever find yourself in a similar scenario, Stewart says it's best to "bring a flotation device with you so that way you don’t go underneath the water".

Meanwhile, Albert says that the preventative fencing is there for a reason. "You’ve got these preventative measures, make sure you use them properly," he warned parents, before adding: "Heads-up parenting, watch what’s going on. Keep your eyes on your kids."