A four-year-old boy has been saved from drowning in a Swindon lake today.
33-year-old Nick Thain, of Greenmeadow, was at Lydiard Park enjoying a family day out when he noticed a small child struggling in the water.
He threw his phone and keys on the grass before running over and jumping into the four-foot-deep (1.2m) lake in a selfless rescue attempt at 4.30pm this afternoon.
Overgrown with weeds and algae, the boy – said to be around four years old – had become entangled approximately a meter from the bank. Mr Train managed to free him and bring him to safety.
“We went to feed the ducks and I heard my partner and sister screaming at me, telling me there’s someone in the lake”, he said.
“I just legged it over, threw my phone and keys onto the floor and jumped in. I was full clothed with my trainers on; there was no time to take anything off. I just jumped straight in.
“The boy was about a metre out into the water tangled in weeds. He probably slipped in. I could touch the floor, but he wouldn’t have been able to – it was above my hips.
“I managed to get him out and he seemed okay, just coughing and spluttering. I’m amazed that no one else in the field did anything.
“As soon as he was out, we were all shouting around asking if anyone had lost a child, but there was no sign of any parents.
“I saw a girl run up to the mum and she came running down to the lake. She must have been about 50 metres away, but she was pretty distraught and she thanked me.”
The emergency services were not involved in the rescue, nor were they called to the incident. It’s not clear whether or not the mother of the child took him for medical treatment.
