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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - A young schoolboy from George has achieved "hero" status after he saved a six-year old girl from drowning over the December holidays. Aiden Barrett (10), a learner at Glenwood House School, stayed with his family at a resort on the banks of the Orange River near Vioolsdrif.

Aiden says the kids were playing at the pool with the grown-ups braaiing close by. There were people in the pool and some kids were sitting close to the edge with their feet in the water.

"I was just sitting there when I saw a girl, fully dressed, at the bottom of the pool. It looked like she was doing a backwards handstand under water," he says.

His first thought was that it was strange that she was fully dressed.

"I dove in and tried to get her to the edge of the pool."

To Aiden it looked like she could be dead. He tried to lift her out of the pool, and in the process her body must have hit the side. "The next thing I know, a whole lot of water burst from her mouth. I think it happened when her tummy hit the side of the pool," he recounts.

He is quite humble about his bravery. "Anyone would have done it, I'm just happy that I saw her and reacted so quickly and that the girl is okay," he says.

Aiden Barret gets a hug from his proud mom, Bronwyn Stammer.
Photo: Salette Cloete

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The news of his rescue travelled to his grandparents and, unbeknown to him, reached his school.

At school Aiden was called up in front of a full assembly to be congratulated for his bravery. "I was so shocked, but it felt good."

His mom, Bronwyn Stammer, is very proud of her son for acting so quickly. Aiden says his grandfather has promised to give him a medal that he received for bravery as a young boy in the First World War.

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