NRL star Lachlan Ilias has been hailed a hero after helping save a fellow tourist while he was holidaying in Zanzibar, Africa.
Ilias was sitting poolside by the beach with his partner Tegan Stephens, when he noticed someone struggling to stay afloat in the ocean.
The 25-year-old halfback quickly jumped into action and grabbed a nearby canoe to help the drowning tourist.
“I saw this guy out there – I thought he was going for a swim next to his canoe,” Ilias told The Daily Telegraph.
“Then all the people in the rooms and around the pool started saying that he needs help, he needs help.
“He kept getting onto his canoe and then falling off, maybe eight or nine times.
“Someone ran down with a staff member and I said to my partner ‘I will go down and help too because I know how to swim’.
“There was a spare canoe and I said ‘I’ll go out, I’m in my boardies and ready to go’.
“I felt like David Hasselhoff with this canoe walking down these stairs.”
He said that people were “yelling and screaming” and when he reached the tourist who was 300 metres offshore, he found the man’s canoe was full of water.
“I told him to get onto my canoe. Then I got into his, but it started sinking and I fell off. He was exhausted as well. I helped him onto my canoe and told him if he had the energy, to row,” Ilias told the publication.
Ilias recalled that he managed to guide them both back to the beach in 10 minutes.
“As I got back to the hotel, everyone was clapping me and shaking my hand, thanking me in their broken English.”
He added that the man even ended up getting him a gift, as a way of saying thank you for saving his life.
“He ended up buying me a margarita,” Ilias said.
“I got back to my seat beside the pool and it was waiting for me.”
Ilias began his career with South Sydney before moving to the Dragons for the 2025 season.
