Bradford man risks life to save a person from drowning

A Bradford man has been hailed for his courage and selflessness after he rescued a drowning person from the sea at Blackpool on July 11.

37-year-old Shahid Parvez, who works as a security door supervisor, was out with his family for a fun day at the Blackpool Beach when the incident occurred.

Parvez explained, “We were sat on the steps close to the water at about 9pm in evening when I heard people shouting someone has drowned.

A man was drowning in the water and his family raised the alarm.

I rushed to see if I could find the person with the crowd sending out directions to where he might be.

I swam towards that direction. It was about 25 metres out but I managed to locate him.

I noticed a male drowned underneath the water. He was lifeless, so I picked him up, put him on my shoulder and swam back to safety.

When out of the water, I put him in a recovery position and performed CPR.

At first there was no sign of life, then after a few minutes I noticed some movement in his eyes, then he coughed up blood and lots of water.

I kept talking to him and kept him in a recovery position until medical help arrived.

The police arrived and took a statement from me to what had happened, and thanked me for my heroic actions, that ended up saving a life.

It was the scariest thing I had ever done,” said Shahid. “I’m still having flashbacks about the incident.

I guess it was just destiny that I was in the right place at the right time.

I risked my own life but I succeeded in saving someone’s life and that is an achievement in itself.

I’m first aid trained and I’ve always been a strong swimmer from my school and college days.”

This was one of the many similar incidents to have occurred in the sea at Blackpool the last few weeks, where many have been rescued and some narrowly saved by lifeboat crews and the emergency services.

A spokesperson for the North West Ambulance Service: “We commend Shahid’s actions in coming to the man’s aid prior to emergency services arriving.

We also would encourage everyone to learn CPR and other first-aid skills, as you never know if you might need to provide life-saving treatment to a family member, friend or even a stranger in an emergency.”

Parvez added that it is important for people to be aware of the dangers when swimming in open water and recalled a recent incident where a 50-year-old man died after getting into difficulty while swimming at the Ardsley Reservoir on July 16. He said, “These incidents are another stark reminder of the dangers of water.”