A girl saved her sister's life with a simple piece of advice after she was swept out to sea.
Mabel Smith, 12, from Birkenhead, was paddling in the sea on Barmouth beach in North Wales with her sister Elsie, 10, when they started to get into difficulty in the water. Mum Milena, who cannot swim, and dad, Dave, were watching the sisters from the shore when Mabel was swept a quarter of a mile out to sea, unable to swim against the strong current, North Wales Live reports.
Mabel said both her and Elsie were knocked off their feet by a "big wave" and were unable to get back up. They quickly realised the danger they were in and began screaming for help.
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Mabel said: "We were about waist height in the water. There were massive waves because it was a very windy day and we were jumping over the waves.
"One second later there was a big wave and we couldn't stand up. The current was so strong that we couldn't move.
"We were exhausting ourselves trying to get back to shore and we couldn't. I got swept away and my sister was shouting to me to float like a starfish so I started lying on my back.
"I was there for about 10 minutes and then the lifeguards came. I just saw this big orange thing bobbing over the water, I heard them shout something then they lifted me up into the boat.
"At that moment I didn't know what had happened to my sister, it was terrifying, I was very scared for her, I was just wondering if anyone even knew what was happening."
Mabel said her worst fear in that moment was that she wasn't sure if she was going to see her family again. Her dad Dave said they hadn't planned on going swimming that day as it was cold.
Dave said: "We could suddenly see the girls getting into difficulty from nothing, they were only paddling. Suddenly they were out of their depth, screaming.
"I went straight in after them. The current was so strong that I was out of my depth almost straight away. I did see Mabel and I said 'the lifeboat's coming, the lifeboat's coming' and told her to float.
"If she had tried swimming it would have been exhausting. I didn't see Elsie at all but I saw Mabel getting swept back out and it was terrifying."
Thankfully, before being pulled to safety, Elsie remembered what she had learned about the RNLI’s Float to Live advice during swimming lessons at school and began frantically shouting for her sister to "float like a starfish". The RNLI advice is ‘Float to Live’ should anyone find themselves in trouble on the water.
This means leaning back and spreading your arms and legs to stay afloat, controlling your breathing, then calling for help or swimming to safety.
Milena said she is convinced that Mabel is only alive today because of Elsie's quick-thinking actions, with Mabel herself also saying that she believes Elsie saved her life that day.
On Wednesday the family returned to Barmouth to thank the RNLI and HM Coastguard search and rescue experts who came to their rescue. They were reunited with Daryl James, an RNLI volunteer at Barmouth who was onboard the lifeboat that day as well as Ben Hiller, HM Coastguard Maritime Operations Officer who coordinated the rescue and was on the phone to Milena throughout.
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