Image: Facebook//jane.friel.7Incredible!
A quick thinking young Irish woman has been labelled a hero, after she came to the aid of a father and his three children who had gotten into trouble in the ocean.
Jane Freil (21), was on Portsalon Beach in Donegal with her cousin last Tuesday, when she was alerted to the potentially disastrous situation developing in the water.
Fully clothed, Jane, who had previously trained as a swimming pool lifeguard, sprinted into the water to the aid of the father and his three young girls.
Speaking to RTE’s Liveline Jane recounted how the events unfolded:
"A woman came up behind us and was chatting to the man behind us and was saying 'my family are in difficulty, I think they are drowning, is there a lifeguard?'” she said.
"But there was no lifeguard on the beach, I trained as a lifeguard, I did my first training four years ago and then renewed it two years ago.
"But I've never worked as a lifeguard."
Despite this, Jane didn't hesitate.
"I pulled off my jacket, my shoes and my sunglasses and went running towards the water,” she told RTE.
Portsalon beach"A man gave me a life ring and I ran into the water and I could see them then so I swam out to them and it was a man and his three daughters.
"They were between eight and 13, they could all swim but they got pulled out too far.
"The first girl was the closest to me and she seemed visibly upset, I pushed the life ring to her and got her to grab onto it and I swam in a bit with her.
"Someone was on the beach and able to pull the string in.
"I went back out and was able to get the second girl to calm down and hang onto the body board she had and I said to the dad will ye be OK but at that stage he was able to swim back with the last girl.
"He even said he wasn't a strong swimmer but he did great to even keep them above the water until someone came out.
"We all got back in safely anyway."
It's very easy to see how if it weren't for Jane's quick actions the situation could've turned far worse.
Truly a hero!
