When I Was Young

He can't swim...

From TODAY, News
Thursday August 7, 2008

But student and another youth pull drowning woman out of the sea

ONG DA I LIN
dailin@mediacorp.com.sg

YOU would think someone who rescues another person from drowning would know how to swim.

But Mr Nay Aung Aye Ko, 21, confesses, he not only doesn’t know how — he is even afraid of the water.

One of two youths who pulled Ms Dang Thi Tio out of the water at East Coast Park on Monday night, the foreign student from Myanmar said: “There were other people at the beach. I thought someone would save her but no one did a thing. So I went into the water to take a look.”

He had earlier seen the Vietnamese woman’s lover pulling her into the sea, but thought “they might just be playing around”. He got worried when he heard shouts from the woman and she did not emerge subsequently.

Meanwhile, Mr Aghilesh Balakrishnan Nair, 23, also saw the woman being dragged offshore and sensed something was wrong when both vanished underwater. Both men were alone and sitting at different benches behind McDonald’s “to chill out”.

Minutes later, they saw Ms Dang floating unconscious five metres from shore, waded in and pulled her out. Mr Nay Aung pressed on her chest and Mr Aghilesh performed CPR.

“I don’t know CPR but I learned from the movies. Only once in biology class did the teacher teach us a bit about CPR,” said Mr Aghilesh, a student from India.

“When she regained consciousness, she wanted to go back into the sea as she said she wanted to follow the man. She was crying and shouting.”

The two men had to hold her back while other bystanders blocked her way.

Mr Aghilesh called the police before going back into the sea to look for the man — a futile effort as “the currents were very strong”. The man’s body was found the next morning.

Both youths were presented yesterday with the Civil Defence Testimonial (Public Spiritedness) by Lieutenant Colonel Kadir Maideen, Commander of the 2nd Civil Defence Division, for their bravery.