Schoolgirls use airbed to save man and toddler from drowning at sea
● Adult passed out during the rescue ● RNLI says pair ‘deserve medals’
Two teenage girls have been praised by emergency services after using a lilo to rescue a man and child who were in danger of drowning off the Aberdeenshire coast.
Sisters Isla and Eilidh Noble were on the beach at the Waters of Philorth, near Fraserburgh, on Monday afternoon when it became clear the pair in the water had got into difficulty.
Realising the man, who had his son on his shoulders, was in trouble, Isla swam out with the airbed to helped them to shore, while 14-year-old Eilidh was calling 999.
Speaking on BBC’S Good Morning Scotland radio programme, Isla said their parents were proud the Fraserburgh Academy pupils had managed to make quick decisions and get the pair out of the water in time without panicking.
She said: “We were just out paddling with our lilo and we saw a man and toddler out and they were deeper than us.
“We thought the toddler started screaming, but we thought the dad was just dunking him under as a laugh and he was getting cold – but then the dad starting shouting ‘help’.
“I went out with the lilo to try to take him back in while Eilidh went and got the phone that we had in the bag that we had on the beach.
“We couldn’t stand because we [were] out too deep, so I tried to put the toddler on the liloandthenasipulledthetoddler up the dad came up a wee bit as well, so I made sure that his head was out the water.
“Then I tried to swim back in, but I could only use one arm because I was holding on to the lilo with the other one. I tried to kick my legs… I was going, but I wasn’t going very fast.
“Luckily there was another man, Keith [Gray]. He had seen what was happening and he was already halfway in the water by this point, so he came and swam out and grabbed the other side of the lilo and we both managed to take them in.”
Nurse Sophie Ross had also been walking on the beach when she heard cries for help.
She said: “The young lass had pulled the fellow out of the water and he was on the lilo.
“We put him in the recovery position and got him to cough up some sea water, checked his pulse and breathing and kept the coastguard up to date with his condition until they arrived.”
Isla said the man, who had become unconscious on the beach, was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution.
A post on the RNLI Fraserburgh Lifeboat Facebook page has praised the actions of the girls for starting a rescue effort straight away, describing their actions as “brilliant”.
“Make no mistake – their presence and actions today made all the difference,” the post said. “They all deserve medals.”