Littlehampton: Lifeguard Saves Toddler

A lifeguard has told Heart of the "amazing feeling" of saving a child's life.

Arran Barker spotted two children in rubber rings drifiting towards the fast flowing currents of the river that borders Littlehampton beach.

The RNLI lifeguard grabbed a rescue board and sprinted along the beach.

He paddled out on his rescue board and, when he reached the two children, found that the older one could just touch the bottom. Arran told the child to walk back to shore as quickly as possible.

He then got to the smaller of the two children, who was by that time under the water and 15 metres from the shoreline. He pulled the child onto his rescue board and paddled back to the beach where both children were reunited with their family. 

Arran said: "It’s an amazing feeling to think that I’ve saved a child’s life, although at the time it was a nerve-wracking rescue. I could see the two of them getting closer to the river and just ran as fast as I could to reach them. Luckily I got there in time."

Oliver Cona, RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor at Littlehampton, said: "‘This was a fantastic rescue. Arran quickly spotted the potential dangers for these two children and then reacted swiftly, putting all his training into action."