WEXFORD SCOUT HERO SAVES BOY
SEAN LEAPT FROM 25FT HIGH BRIDGE TO RESCUE TEEN FROM RIVERBED
A 16-year-old Wexford scout saved the life of a young Turkish boy who had been knocked unconscious after a fellow swimmer landed on after jumping from a gantry over a coastal inlet.
Sean Thompson, from Carne, dived from a 25 ft high bridge into the water and swam down to the riverbed to save the 14 year old who had sunk like a stone after one of the boy’s cousins landed on his head after jumping into the water behind him.
Sean hauled the unconscious boy to the surface and with the help of fellow scout Mollie Tamara Powell, dragged him to the shore where they gave him the boy CPR after clearing his airway.
A German nurse who had seen what happened then came to their aid, with the three looking after the boy until an ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later.
Turkish police said that without their intervention, the boy would have most probably drowned.
Sean’s father Emmet said his son had told him he didn’t think about what he was doing ‘ he just went for it’.
‘I’m absolutely very proud of him,’ said Emmet, we just got a message from the Chief Scout of Ireland Christy McCann congratulating Sean and Mollie, saying they were the embodiment of the Scout motto - ‘Be Prepared’.
Sean, a student at Bridgetown Vocational College, is the son of Emmet and his wife Olga and is a member of the 6th Wexford Tuskar Sea Scouts, of which his father is group leader.
Emmet said Sean was a very strong swimmer and had learned his swimming skills through the scouts, which he joined about 10 years ago. Sean and Mollie, who is also 16 and a member of the 38th Rush Dublin Scouts were among a group holidaying with their families in the Turkish resort of Mahmutlar in Antalya Province and had gone swimming to an area of the coast popular with locals.