Boy Scouts Help Save a Man's Life When He Goes Into Cardiac Arrest Mid-Flight

A group of Boy Scouts heading home from an adventure camp helped save a man's life when he went into cardiac arrest on their plane.

The scouts were on a four-hour flight from New Mexico to New York's LaGuardia airport when a flight attendant came on the PA system asking if there were any doctors on board, ABC News reported. The airline told the outlet that three doctors and a nurse responded and were able to start performing CPR on a passenger who was experiencing cardiac arrest.

The scouts' leader, Evan Gilder, knew CPR was difficult to perform for a long period of time, and they had over 40 minutes until the plane could make an emergency landing in Pittsburgh.

"You can do [CPR] for a few minutes and you really tire out," Gilder told the outlet.

One of the boys, 16-year-old Eagle Scout Ariel Yaron, recalled Gilder calling the boys into action.

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"He's like, 'Boys, everyone who knows CPR training, go! Go! Go!,' the teenager recalled. 17-year-old Moshe Grimaldi also stood up to help, getting in line to form a rotation of those performing the necessary chest compressions.

The boys were part of the group of people on the plane who together performed CPR on an the unidentified man for over 40 minutes.

Gilder recalled that when the flight was getting ready to land, a flight attendant asked everyone to take their seats, but, he says, "One of the doctors, in the calmest of voices says, 'If we do that this patient will die for sure.'" He added that as the plane was about to land, doctors detected a pulse.

"To see someone go through this — you or someone you love — suddenly your whole life is in the hands of a couple of Boy Scouts," Yaron reflected.

PEOPLE reached out to Southwest for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

He, Gilder, and their group were returning from a meet-up with other Jewish Boy Scout groups from the New York area at an outdoor adventure camp in Cimarron, New Mexico.

"It is one of the most important, most paramount commandments in Judaism to save a life," the teenager told ABC News. "It is doing what you're supposed to as a Jew and a Boy Scout and just as an upstanding citizen. I am honored."