Beachgoers came to aid of two swimmers in Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach on Saturday afternoon.
"Traumatized because I saw him kind of die before my eyes... purple lips and pale and he had no color in his face," said Vivian Li as she waited outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Emergency Room.
Vivian Li recalls what was a close call for 18-year-old Stanley Zheng and his best friend Clinton Liang.
"It started raining really hard at that time and Stanley and his best friend wanted to jump in the lake cause they thought it would be fun," said Li.
Li was there at North Avenue Beach when what started as fun quickly turned to a life saving mission for two Bridgeport teens pulled from Lake Michigan during Saturday afternoon's storms.
Liang suffered a broken leg but Zheng was much worse - saved thanks to two Good Samaritans.
"So he jumped in the water and he couldn't get him so he called for help and luckily there was a doctor that came running and she did CPR on him. He had no pulse at first. He didn't breathe until he coughed up water and that's when she told us his lungs were filled with water," said Li.
It's unclear whether there were lifeguards assigned to that area. However, Li says she saw lifeguards initially - until the storm rolled in.
"It was raining really hard and the lifeguard left, like both lifeguards left the place," said Li.
Zheng remained submerged in water for at least five minutes before being rescued.
"I live in San Diego, I'm visiting, so I'm sort of used to the beach culture and what I see is that it's also training. You know, they seem so young to me, not that you have to be old to be a good lifeguard but first responders need to be well trained," said Molly O'Connor.
"There were a lot of people and then when it rained a lot of people left. It seems like they keep a pretty good eye on people though whenever I go out there or when they see people out there too far they yell to come back in," said Jeff Vitek.
Liang and Zheng survived the scare but others have not.
According to the Chicago Tribune, a reported 13 people have drowned across Chicago this year, including ten children since mid-June.
