Justin Fischer, from Windischeschenbach, east of Nuremberg in Bavaria, noticed the boy at the bottom of the non-swimmers pool at a Freibad (open-air pool) last month.

As the youngster didn't appear to be moving, Fischer quickly jumped into the pool and pulled him out of the water.

“His lips were blue, he was no longer breathing,” Fischer said. He called for help and a pool attendant took over the cardiac massage at the edge of the pool.

Shortly afterwards, the four-year-old began to breathe again.

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It was a natural reaction to jump in and help the boy, said the student. News of the rescue spread around the region and, in the last days, police and pool attendants have been praising the student for his efforts.

Michael Mutzbauer and Alexander Horn, from the Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) police unit, had been called out to the outdoor swimming pool when the incident happened on June 4th.

The mother of the four-year-old had been looking for her son, who had been at the sand playground shortly before he got into difficulty in the water, Mutzbauer said. When the mum came to the edge of the pool, the little boy had started to breathe again. The boy was then taken to a clinic in Weiden for further treatment.

There, the officers visited him and promised they would drive by his home in the patrol car when he was better. They recently fulfilled this promise, as can be seen on Twitter in a post by the Oberpfalz police.

Police called Fischer and another 11-year-old boy called Luca who also helped with the rescue mission “civilian heroes”.

The youngster, said to be called Jakob, is recovering well, Mutzbauer said.

Vocabularly

To save – retten

Drowning – (das) Ertrinken

Non-swimmers pool – (das) Nichtschwimmerbecken

Cardiac/heart massage – (die) Herzdruckmassage

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