Mum thanks pond rescue drama hero

An Aberdeen mum has praised a “gem of a guy” who helped her daughter when she became stuck in mud while searching for tadpoles.

Donna Sim, 41, had taken her five daughters to the city’s Woodend pond to search for tadpoles on Monday evening when one of them became stuck in the water.

Mary-Jane, 12, Hannah, 11, Skye, 9, Summer, 7, and Rhianna, aged four, had been walking around the nature reserve before trying to find tadpoles when it started getting dark.

Hannah was told the long grass in the pond was a good spot.

Ms Sim said: “Before we knew it her feet started sinking and the water started to rise.

“It was just up past her knees and she was hysterical.”

The terrified mum did not have her phone with her and there was no one around to ask for help.

She said: “I had another four kids with me, and one is partially sighted and one has learning difficulties so I didn’t know what to do.

“I couldn’t let their hands go because I was scared they would fall into the water.”

She sent Skye and MaryJane to go back to Bressay Brae, where they had parked their car, to knock on someone’s door and ask them to call the fire brigade.

The girls managed to find somebody at home and asked him to phone 999, but instead he left his house and ran to the pond to help.

Ms Sim said: “Skye and Mary-Jane came running towards me with a young guy, he’d run out of his house rather than phoning the fire brigade.

“He went to go get the rubber ring but he didn’t need it because he actually went into the water, and almost fell a few times himself to get to her, and managed to get her out of the mud.

“I have never been so scared in my entire life because the more she was standing the more her feet were sinking, and I thought ‘Oh my God, my bairn’s going to drown!’ It was absolutely horrendous.”

Eleven-year-old Hannah had been so deep in the mud that when she was pulled to safety her new trainers were stuck and could not be retrieved.

Ms Sim said there are no signs warning of the long grass or swampy area, which is why her daughter had ventured out so far in the belief it was safe.

She added: “What an absolute gem of a guy, not a lot of people would have helped. I can’t thank him enough.”

SAFE: Hannah Sim, 11, became stuck in the pond mud.