Paul Grimes, originally from Dublin, acted heroically to help save the life of a man in Melbourne.
An Irishman helped to save the life of a man by preventing him from drowning in Melbourne in Australia on Sunday night.
Paul Grimes, who is originally from Dublin but has been living in Australia for six years, was out for dinner at the Docklands in Melbourne when he heard cries for help coming from the Yarra River.
A man in his 50s fell off the pier at the Docklands and suffered a heart attack, prompting a man in his 20s to dive into the river in an attempt to save him.
The younger man soon began to struggle after ingesting a large amount of salt water and when Grimes heard the cries for help coming from the river, he immediately rushed to their aid.
Commenting on the first man, who was semi-conscious when rescued from the river, Grimes told Ten News: “I grabbed him under the arm and I was afraid I was going to fall over so I got one of the girls to actually stand on my feet so that I wouldn’t fall over… we took a while to lift him up out of the water and just lay him down on the pier.
“I was ready to jump, but lucky I didn’t jump because there was already someone in the water with him so we just decided we’d pull him out.
“I basically put my hand on his stomach and then realised I was too low so put it more to the chest and just pushed down twice. Then he started coughing and we turned him over to the recovery position.”
Restaurant diners have turned heroes after they saved a man from drowning in Victoria Harbour at Docklands. #TenNews @KatherineFirkin pic.twitter.com/OIyqUAQBJR
— 10 News First Melbourne (@10NewsFirstMelb) January 22, 2018
Emergency services arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, which occurred at approximately 9pm on Sunday night.
The man in his 50s, according to The Herald Sun, was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition, while the man in his 20s was also taken to hospital with minor injuries, but was discharged shortly afterwards.
Humbly downplaying his role in the rescue, Grimes said: “The real hero is that guy who jumped in, he just took the basic instinct of running and jumping in.”
Cheers to Sarah Heapes for sending this our way. If you have something you would like to share with us, send it to [email protected] or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter.
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