Only On 9: Good Samaritan Helps Rescue Little Boy Buried Alive At The Beach

NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA.com) —  A Good Samaritan helped avert certain tragedy Saturday when he helped rescue a little boy who was buried alive at Newport Beach.

KCAL9's Jennifer Kastner spoke to the man who was in the right place at the right time.

Kastner said Jesse Martin is very humble and doesn't consider himself a hero, or even a Good Samaritan,for that matter.

It is a story that is Only On 9.

Martin is in the LA area vacationing from Arizona. He was at Newport Beach Saturday just enjoying the sun and surf.

He says the boy's parents frantically approached him and some other beachgoers when they said they lost sight of their 3-year-old boy who had been digging sand tunnels.

Martin went over to where he thought he saw the boy digging.

The little boy was buried about three feet down for up to four minutes.

"I started digging pretty fast and dug two big handfuls and that's when I felt him under the sand," said Martin."And pulled him out. I put him up on the embankment out of the hole. It was a scary thing to  see a little boy who wasn't breathing and blue and pretty much dead. It was pretty frightening."

Martin's uncle did CPR on the boy who was then taken to a hospital. Tonight, Kastner is told the boy is okay. He has already been released from the hospital and is back home.

Meanwhile, Martin -- the reluctant hero -- told her he got a text from the grateful boy's parents, including a picture of him, and he was smiling and laughing and doing just fine.