Australian lifeguard series Bondi Rescue inspired 'hero' Cooper Adams (10) to help save drowning toddler off Avon beach in Christchurch
A PROUD mum praised her “hero” 10-year-old son who helped save a toddler from drowning off a Christchurch beach.
Cooper Adams’ passion for Australian lifeguard TV series Bondi Rescue helped him spot the young boy was in trouble.
It happened while Cooper was visiting Avon beach with his parents Christine and Ben, and younger brother Lewis (7).
The drama unfolded while the family, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was holidaying in the area.
“If it wasn’t for Cooper I dread to think what the outcome could have been,” Christine told the A&T, as he seemed to be the only one who noticed something was wrong.
She recalled: “We had been in the water and had just come out and Cooper was standing on the beach looking out at the sea. He said, ‘Mummy, daddy, that boy’s drowning!’
“We turned and looked out and saw this little boy. He had his head tipped right back like he was trying to keep his head above the water and he was bobbing up and down in the water.”
Christine’s husband Ben initially believed the youngster was just bouncing up and down in the water, she explained.
But Cooper insisted the three-year-old was not playing.
“Then the boy shouted, ‘Help!’ and went back down again and didn’t come back up,” Christine continued.
“Cooper shouted, ‘Daddy, daddy, go!’, and my husband threw his drink aside and sprinted to the water.
“The boy was about three metres out from the shoreline. It wasn’t deep – only just above my husband’s waist – but, obviously, as the boy was so small it was in the danger zone for him.
“Ben dived down to grab him and when he came back up the boy just wrapped his arms around his neck.”
Believing he could only have been under the water for a matter of seconds, she said the boy was “absolutely fine”.
He was described as shocked but fully responsive, and returned to his mother who had not known he was in the water.
With father Ben being Australian and the family regularly taking trips down under, Cooper has avidly followed the lifesaving exploits chronicled in hit TV series Bondi Rescue.
“Cooper actually said it was purely from watching the rescues on Bondi Rescue that he noticed the child was in trouble,” Christine said.
“I’m immensely proud of him. I just can’t quite believe it. He really is a hero.”
At the time of the incident, the Adams family had been staying with friends in Awbridge, near Romsey.
Christine added: “Cooper walked straight into their garden and said, ‘I saved someone’s life today’, and they were amazed.
“It wasn’t exactly the sort of thing they expected him to say when he came back from the beach!”