RESCUE DRAMA

The lady and her grandson, who are Polish nationals living in Avonlea Manor in Craigavon, had fallen into the lake near a set of steps, around 200 yards from the Watersports Centre shortly after 12.30pm on Thursday. It’s understood the woman in her sixties had been trying to rescue her two-year-old grandson, who had fallen into the water, when she too fell in. The cries of council staff, who had witnessed the drama, alerted two families who were passing by the lake. Waringstown fisherman Gary Houston was out for a walk with his wife and two children when he heard screams coming from the civic centre. Just behind them were Bluestone couple Sean Robinson and his wife Emma, who at the time was three days overdue with their first child. “We came round the corner and there was just an empty buggy sitting,” recalled 33-year-old Sean. “We heard ones in the civic centre shouting out the window that there was somebody in the water.” 37-year-old Gary said: “If they hadn’t been shouting we probably wouldn’t have thought anything of the buggy. We were on the higher path and couldn’t see anything in the water.” On closer inspection Gary and Sean and their wives spotted the lady and her grandson struggling in the water. Gary said: “You could see the top of her blonde head in under the water. “She was trying to hold the wee boy up out of the water, but she was really struggling to keep him up. She couldn’t swim and there was nothing for her to grab hold of.” “It was lucky they were at the edge,” he continued. “We were able to reach out for them without going into the water ourselves.” Sean told of the moment of horror when it looked like the toddler had sunk to the bottom of the lake: “It was frightening to see the wee boy going under,” he said. “It was like something out of Titanic just seeing him disappearing under the water, not being able to reach him. We all thought he was dead. Gary and myself concentrated on pulling the woman out. When we got her up he popped up again. Emma was able to grab him. His granny must have kept hold of him under the water.” Gary, who is first aid trained, said: “I got the woman into the recovery position and put her wee boy over my knee. He was squealing which is a good sign that he’s breathing.” Sean said: “I’ve never been so pleased to hear a wee lad screaming.” Gary, who is chair of the Iveagh Angling Club, commented: “That’s the biggest brace I’ve ever got out of Craigavon Lake.” “If it hadn’t been for the ones in the civic centre shouting they both would have died,” added Sean. “There wasn’t a sound coming from the water. We’d just have walked on past.” As Gary tended to the grandmother and grandson Sean phoned an ambulance, which arrived within minutes. Watersports staff were also quickly on the scene. Both the grandmother and toddler have made a full recovery after an overnight stay in hospital Gary explained: “Declan (Brown, manager of the Watersports Centre) phoned me the next day to say they were out of hospital. He said they were alright.” Sean said: “The adrenalin takes over and you don’t think about what’s happening. It wasn’t until later that night we started seeing the face of the wee boy going under the water. Thank God they’re both alright.”