Eleven-year-old Christchurch girl Billie saved by RNLI Float to Live advice
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00:00My name is Billy and I'm 11 years old. I enjoy going to the beach a lot.
00:05So we were just playing on the beach. It was very cold actually. We were just swimming and stuff
00:12and then go a bit deep. The waves start getting a lot bigger and I couldn't touch the floor.
00:19I was thinking, oh no this isn't going to be very good because I can't touch the floor anymore.
00:27I might get taken away by the sea. I felt very scared and I tried to swim back.
00:37I was able to swim a little bit back but then I was really out of breath and really tired.
00:44I'm Andy Reid. I am a helm here at Mulliford Lifeboat Station. I was down the beach with
00:50the family. So we were down close to the waterline playing and then I turned and noticed
00:57Billy and her friend were out the water about 20 or so meters off. The adult that was with them
01:03was obviously quite concerned about how far they'd gone out and at that point I saw Billy
01:08rolling onto her back into the float to live position. I floated on my back to try and get
01:16my energy back to try and swim and then I was shouting for help as well. So I left all my
01:24possessions on the beach and my partner was instructed to call 999 and then I entered
01:34the water, made my way towards Billy. I managed to grab hold of her, reassure her and calm her down
01:41and then we made our way out to her friend who had been assisted by another person and then as
01:48a group we all made our way back into the beach and to safety. I felt a bit relieved that someone
01:54was coming. He was very kind. I would say thank you very much. I don't know how else I can thank you.
02:05She did exactly the right thing. If you find yourself in difficulty in the water you should
02:09adopt the float to live position. Tilt your head back and submerge your ears in the water. Open
02:14your arms to make yourself more stable and try and relax. Get control of your breathing and just
02:20try and calm down and float to live. If you get into difficulty in the water, float to live.