Alnwick man turns lifesaver on holiday in France

Aug 4 2009 The Journal

L'ENTENTE cordiale was reaffirmed today, due to the courage of a teenage hero from Northumberland

John Gray was the hero of the hour when he plucked a drowning woman to safety from treacherous French seas.

Hearing the woman’s screams, the 17-year-old dived into the water at the French resort of Argeles-sur-Mer.

Three lifeguards followed him in, but John reached the panicking woman first and managed to haul her back to the shore, despite waves two metres high.

Crowds of holidaymakers burst into applause when the two made it back to safety, where the 32-year-old woman was met by ambulance staff and stretchered away to hospital.

They had watched in horror as the woman was dragged out to sea by swirling currents.

John, of Alnwick, Northumberland, who was on a two-week camping holiday with his family, said: “I had been swimming for about two hours before it happened and I felt I knew how to swim in the water.

“It became really, really rough and I could see this girl being knocked about. She was clearly in a lot of difficulty.

“The waves were huge, but I found you could swim underneath them. The lifeguards were trying to swim over the top of them and were getting nowhere.

“As I got closer I could hear her screaming. I reached her and was a bit worried because I thought she could drag me down with her, but she held on around my neck and somehow managed to stay afloat.