A 16-year-old lad jumped into an ice-cold canal to save a tiny seven-week-old baby from drowning. Brave George Hibberd was walking with his friend Ronny, by a canal in Kent on 3 October at about 9 pm when the drama unfolded.
The college student came across the young mum, who was walking her dog with her baby in the pram. But di*aster str-uck when she knelt down to sort the dog’s lead-out but didn’t realize it had rolled off into the nearby canal.
The mum scr*amed in horror, with George immediately jumping into action to save her baby after the pram had sunk into the water. Quick-thinking George took his clothes on and jumped straight into the freezing water.
George explained: “I saw the pram right before it rolled off. The mum was putting her dog’s lead on and the pram was right beside her but it started to roll off. “There was a tree there and I thought it was going to block the pram from going straight into the river.
“But I was wrong. There was a dip in the pa-vement which I think ca-used the pram to roll off because the ground looked straight.”In just a few seconds the baby ended up going into the water.”I and my friend scre*med at the mum ‘Your baby!’ and she was scr*aming asking us to help get her child.
“The pram was slightly floating above the water and the baby was still lying inside.”I got to it just in time before it sa-nk any deeper. If I got there later it would have definitely su-nk even more.”Before I was going in the water, I thought, ‘what could be in there?’
The canal was my worst nightmare, I can’t stand mo-ss, alg-ae, and fish, and rats. The water was freezing cold.”But I had so much adr-enaline I didn’t even think about it.”I took off my clothes and dived straight in.”I had to swim a little bit in the middle of the canal. It was really dark and I couldn’t see much.”
He managed to drag the pram back to dry land and although the baby was understandably di*tressed, it was back safely with its mum. George and his pal offered to call a taxi from the mum but she declined George added: “The baby was cr*ing a lot. The mum didn’t say much, she started saying she was a single mum. I don’t remember her saying anything else.
“I offered to phone a taxi for her but she said she lived close by. She stood there holding her baby for some time.I’m not aware of the state of the baby.”I was going to meet my friends later on. I stuck around for a bit then I and Ronny left, but the mum was stood there for a while.” “I hope the baby is ok. It’s hard because we don’t know what the outcome was, we don’t know the baby was checked or what happened next.” George and his mum, Natalie Hibberd, 39, are trying to get in trace down the mother to see if there is anything they can do to help. George added: “I didn’t really want people to know about what I did. I don’t like a f*ss or like being the center of attention, I didn’t do it for gratification, I did it from the bottom of my heart.”
Natalie said: “Myself and my husband, Rick, are extremely proud of George. We’re blown away by his courage and his selfless act.”Someone commented on my Facebook post about what George did and turned up at my office with a £20 JD voucher for him. I’ve never met her before but she wanted to reward George for what he did. We’re all very proud of him.”
This Article First Published On LADBIBLE