Boy, 6, ‘airlifted to hospital after being swept out to sea on inflatable swan’ in North Wales
A SIX-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital today after reportedly being swept out to sea on an inflatable swan in North Wales.
The little boy was found face-down and unconscious in the water by a hero builder who swam in to rescue him off the coast of Black Rock Sands this afternoon.
Ambulance, coastguard and police were called to the holiday hotspot at around 2.45pm as temperatures soared across the UK.
Hero Sam McKeeder, a builder from Towyn, Wales, said he went in after the six-year-old after noticing he had drifted out too far on his inflatable.
The 57-year-old granddad told North Wales Live: “I heard the boy’s mum shout for help and I just jumped in, the kid was in trouble and I had to try and help.
“He was far away from shore, around 200 metres and it took me a while to get to him but luckily I’m quite a strong swimmer.”
He added: “He was totally unconscious, I turned him around and patted him on his back and then a lot of water and sick came up, and he started breathing again.”
Mr McKeeder assisted the boy back to shore, where paramedics were waiting for him.
He was then airlifted by the Coastguard rescue helicopter to Ysbyty Gwynedd.
The boy’s dad is understood to have called 999 after his son began drifting out on the white inflatable swan.
A spokesman for Holyhead Coastguard told North Wales live: “I wish people would leave the inflatables at home as they are designed for swimming pool not for the sea.”
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A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson told the Sun Online: “We were called today, at approximately 2.46pm to reports of a medical emergency in the Morfa Bychan, area of Gwynedd.
“We sent one emergency ambulance to the scene where we assisted colleagues in the coastguard who flew one patient to Glan Clwyd Hospital.”
Speaking of his rescue, Mr McKeeder said: “I was thanked by the boy’s parents and by the emergency services and now I’m just getting on with our day with the family.”
The little boy’s current condition is unknown.