Hero Frank, 9, saves girl drowning in holiday pool
A NINE-year-old ‘hero’ saved a little girl from drowning in the pool at their hotel on holiday in Tenerife.
Frank Emsley spotted the girl motionless under the water. He swam over, pulled her up then shouted to her parents who helped drag her out.
A lifeguard gave CPR before she was taken to hospital to recover.
Frank said: ‘I looked over and thought I couldn’t hold my breath under water that long so I became concerned.
‘She wasn’t moving. I touched her arm to see if she was all right and she clung to me for dear life.
‘It was terrifying. She was completely blue and foaming at the mouth.
‘I’m just happy I was there and managed to act – I don’t want to think about what could have happened if I wasn’t.’
He added: ‘I’d like to think I could be like her guardian angel. I hope to meet her when she’s older.’
The girl is thought to have slipped off an inflatable floatie. Her parents, from East Sussex, wrote to Frank’s school in Warrington, Cheshire, and the letter was read out in an assembly.
His mum Sarah, 45, said: ‘They were so grateful. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to have your child disappear on you like that. They hailed him a hero. He’s definitely my little hero.’ She
told the Northwich Guardian: ‘We’d actually seen the commotion, then Frank just appeared out of nowhere and said, “It was me that saved her.”
‘Not many nine-year-olds would have acted the way he did. He’s always observant and attentive.’
Sarah, husband Justin, 48, and daughter Winnie, seven, had arrived just two days earlier for the half-term break.