I remember receiving training in high school on how to save a drowning person. The drowning person is likely in a panic and will be happy to climb on you to save their own life. You have to go underwater and grab them from the rear with one hand under their chin. If they fight you, dunk them.
The last place they want to go is under water. Approach them the same way and inform them to relax or get dunked some more. It often takes cooperation to save another life. The highway of life is littered with roadkill. I've lost friends I couldn't save. I've watched people slowly kill themselves with alcohol and drugs. Sometimes the best you can do is not become collateral damage. In 100 years, what difference will it have made? No one gets out of here alive.