A 12-year-old boy received public praise for rescuing a 17-year-old girl who jumped into the Chao Phraya River from a Bangkok bridge on Friday night.
The boy, identified as Thanapat Bunkerd or Klao, told media he and his friends were fishing on the bridge and noticed his line had become entangled with something below. He climbed down to fix it and suddenly heard a loud splash.
He then saw a girl, identified only as Natthamon, crying for help. Klao jumped in the river to rescue her.
Klao swam quite far to reach her, he said. While in the water, the girl told him she had wanted to die but had now changed her mind.
Once out of the river, she was conscious but exhausted. Police and rescuers arrived shortly afterwards and took the girl to hospital for a check-up.
Klao said he was afraid of drowning too, but felt compelled to help.
“Don’t do this again because if I wasn’t there, no one would have been able to help you,” he said to the girl.
The young hero is studying in third grade at Wat Chan Nai school. His story was widely shared on social media, with many saying he was very brave.
