Royal Marine reveals hack to save yourself from drowning at sea

‘You literally don’t know how important you are to our society’

[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.”