11-Year-Old Dives Into Sea And Saves Toddler From Drowning

August 27, 2020

An 11-year-old boy in North Yorkshire has been hailed a hero after jumping into the sea near his home in Staithes to rescue a toddler.

Eli Harrison

Eli Harrison, 11, was with his family for a trip to the seaside when he noticed a little boy floating around 30 feet from the shore.

Harrison wasted no time in leaping off the pier navigating small fishing boats in order to rescue the child.

"We were at the middle pier and we started walking towards the smaller one because you get cut off by the tide," Harrison told Sky News. "And then when we got on to the little pier - my dad shouted 'there's a kid drowning' so I jumped in and saved him and swam back to the beach."

Harrison's mother Kaleigh said that her husband, Ian, was still in the process of taking off his bag - ready to rescue the baby himself - when Eli had already jumped into action.

"As he swam back he had one arm round his tummy and you could see water coming out the bairn's mouth, it was bad," Kaleigh said.

The toddler had apparently been holding onto a small fishing net, but had made his way into the water without his parents noticing.

"They were packing up, they'd turned their back for just a split second but that's all it takes", Kayleigh said.

Thankfully, the toddler appeared to make a full recovery.