Royal Marine reveals hack to save yourself from drowning at sea
‘You literally don’t know how important you are to our society’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.[This story was originally published in July 2021]
A royal marine and TikTok user called Robin has revealed an innovative hack to save yourself from drowning in deep water. The only thing you need: a pair of trousers, that will be used to create a make-shift “floatation device”.
In a video, Robin – who goes by @Dutchintheusa on social media – shows how you can tie your trousers in a certain way to form a ring around your neck.
The TikTok user, who has 3.5 million followers, begins by jumping in a pool and taking his trousers off. Next, he ties the ends of his trousers together and tells users to zip or button them together.
He then proceeds – in what he says is the hardest part of the technique – to “slam down” the trousers “as hard as you can” into the water, forcing them to fill up with air.
“Zip up or button up your pants – and this is the hardest part – you’re going to grab the sides and slam it down to get as much air in there as possible,” he says.
The video has been viewed over 3 million times on TikTok, with some people expressing gratitude for the useful information and others saying they learned similar techniques at school or in the military.
One user wrote: “You literally don’t know how important you are to our society, but lemme tell you you are SUPER important to our society.”
Another said: “I learned something similar to this at swimming class in 6th grade, but I kind of forgot how to do it, thanks for making this video.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments