10-year-old saves child from drowning

GEORGE NEWS - A young schoolboy from George has achieved "hero" status after he saved a six-year old girl from drowning over the December holidays. Aiden Barrett (10), a learner at Glenwood House School, stayed with his family at a resort on the banks of the Orange River near Vioolsdrif.

Aiden says the kids were playing at the pool with the grown-ups braaiing close by. There were people in the pool and some kids were sitting close to the edge with their feet in the water.

"I was just sitting there when I saw a girl, fully dressed, at the bottom of the pool. It looked like she was doing a backwards handstand under water," he says.

His first thought was that it was strange that she was fully dressed.

"I dove in and tried to get her to the edge of the pool."

To Aiden it looked like she could be dead. He tried to lift her out of the pool, and in the process her body must have hit the side. "The next thing I know, a whole lot of water burst from her mouth. I think it happened when her tummy hit the side of the pool," he recounts.

Aiden Barret gets a hug from his proud mom, Bronwyn Stammer.
Photo: Salette Cloete