Syrian migrant rescues drowning toddler
June 28, 2018
A 49-year-old Syrian man rescued a 3-year-old boy from a river in a small German town, police announced on Thursday.
The toddler fell into the Henne River in the town of Meschede in North Rhine-Westphalia and was swept away by the current.
Local reports identified the man as Abdulmanaf Mohamad.
According to the Westfalen Post, the young boy slipped from some rocks and was immediately taken by the current.
Mohamad told the paper he saw the boy from his terrace. His wife said only the boy's eyes were visible. "The boy was swirling through the water," she said.
Police said he dove into the cold water from a height of several meters and dragged the boy to safety where neighbors helped the boy and wrapped him in a blanket before he was taken to hospital with hypothermia.
"If the rescuer had not reacted so well, worse might have happened," Holger Glaremin from the local police told public broadcaster WDR.
Mohamad told the Westfalen Post, "I saw the child and knew I had to save him."
Mohamad injured his foot in the process and was taken to the hospital.
aw/sms (dpa, AFP)