For two young models, an evening in Central Park turned into a harrowing event they’ll never forget.
Ethan Turnbull, 24, was skateboarding with his best friend Bennett Jonas, 23, when he looked across the park’s frozen pond and saw a group of teens in dire trouble.
“We saw some kids… playing and taking photos on the ice and I pointed it out to Bennett and said ‘hey look there’s some guys on the ice,” Turnbull, a model from Australia, told The Post.
“I guess one of them wanted to take a picture and they all came together and that’s when they broke through,” Jonas added.
Suddenly the teens were plunged into freezing water and had to fight for their lives.
The models, which both have younger brothers, didn’t even have a chance to think about their own safety. They sprinted to the teens’ rescue, knowing they needed to help.
“We both picked up our boards and ran as fast as we could to get to them,” Jonas recounted.
“I knew they were in trouble,” Turnbull added.
They got to the edge of the pond and realized the situation was dire.
“There was probably 12 or 15 people trying to get them with ladders but you could tell what they were doing wasn’t going to work,” Jonas said.
“I knew the only way they were getting out is if someone got in to get them.”
So in they went.
Jonas, a California native and confident swimmer, immediately handed all of his belongings to a random woman standing beside him and he waded in to the icy pond, feeling the strongest chill he’s ever felt in his life.
“I got to the first two… it got pretty hectic at one point. They were pulling me down and trying to get on top of me and I was just getting them to Ethan as quickly as possible.”
“The kids were climbing over one another trying to keep their mouths above water and it was just a matter of dragging them as fast ashore as humanly possible,” Turnbull, who was near the edge of the pond helping Jonas, said.
The two pulled out three of the teens when Jonas saw two bodies floating about 15 or 20 feet away.
“I had to swim out… it was too deep I didn’t feel my feet on the ground. I grabbed a backpack and a jacket and thankfully they were still attached to them… we didn’t know if they were or alive or not. One of them was foaming at the mouth and his whole body was shaking violently,” Jonas recalled of the tense scene.
He swam to Turnbull, who helped drag them onto the shore where medical personnel were waiting.
For Jonas, whose only been living in the city for six months, it was a matter of timing.
“It’s crazy the way it all worked, we kept stopping [while skating] and we would sit on a bench and talk and had it been 30 seconds earlier or 30 seconds later the news would’ve been the police are pulling bodies out of the water… We were just thankful that we were there at the right time and whatever higher power attracted us to be there and pull those kids out,” Jonas said.
“If we weren’t there some of them probably would’ve never seen the light of day again.”
For the busy young models, rescuing seven teens was just another night in the big city.
“The big world doesn’t end, it just keeps turning, you gotta keep moving on,” Turnbull told The Post the morning after the big rescue.
He had a casting call Tuesday for Ralph Lauren Polo and was actually recognized by one of the casting managers.
“The woman did a little bit of a double take and then she asked me ‘was it you that saved the kids last night?’ and I said ‘yeah that’s me and now I’m here at a casting!’ Turnbull said laughing.
He said he’s a humble model and doesn’t expect any upticks in his career as a result of the high-profile rescue.
“We were just happy to help out.”
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