A waiter has been hailed a hero after his quick-thinking saved a man's life at Gordon Ramsay’s Edinburgh restaurant.
Eduardo (Edu) Avila, 34, who is an assistant manager at Bread Street Kitchen at St Andrew’s Square, has been praised for his “bravery and quick thinking”.
The incident is understood to have taken place on March 10 when a couple arrived to dine on Ramsay’s infamous beef Wellington in the early afternoon.
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But shortly after arriving, at around 2pm, a young male, who does not wish to be identified, began to choke on a large piece of steak.
His wife, seeing that he was struggling and turning red, began to panic, and started to slap her husband on the back.
Without skipping a beat, Edu sprang into action and used his training to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on the man.
After three or four pumps the hero waiter managed to dislodge the item of food from the man’s throat.
On the incident, the man whose life was saved said: “He saved my life. That is my thought. My wife said he saved hers as well cause her life would’ve changed forever had he not saved mine.
“What happened was that I started to choke on a piece of steak. You know the feeling when swallow a bit of food that is too big, and you think cor this is a bit much, well this turned to ‘holy s**t!’ I don't think I can fix this.
“I looked at my wife and she realised I was not joking. She started to hit me on the back and she was making a fuss when Eduardo swooped in and pushed her out the way and he saved me.
“My doctor said that what he did was amazing. He did not let me stand up and every step he carried out was textbook.
“The fact he reacted when a lot of people froze shows how brave he was. It was a split second and he was there.
“After it he was so nice. My wife and I were so distressed but he let us quietly go to the toilet and compose ourselves. He refused to let us pay and the next day he called me to see if I was ok.
“You don't expect that from people. I owe him my life. I told him that, it is a weird feeling.
“I sent him a gift but it won’t come close to repaying him for saving my life.
“He deserves all the praise in the world.”
The hero Spaniard from Morón de la Frontera, but who currently resides in Clermiston, did not wish for publicity following the incident.
But his family as well as his girlfriend felt that the young man deserved recognition within the local press for his amazing deed.
Commenting on the bravery of Edu, girlfriend Shannon said: “I was initially shocked when Eduardo told me what had happened, but once it had sunk in I was immensely proud of him.
“His fast thinking and instant actions literally saved the man’s life. Nobody knows how they would react in these situations until it happens, but I know a lot of people would freeze, I probably would!
“The fact that he took control of the situation instantly and never let fear stop him shows how brave he is. I'm super proud of him.”
Edu’s parents and his sister were said to be immensely “proud” of his actions with sister Marilo saying: “I can only say good things about my brother, even more so after that.”
On the bravery shown by their colleague, John Whybrow, the assistant general manager of Bread Street Kitchen, said: “I was not there on the day but a couple came in and had Beef Wellington.
“After a couple of mouthfuls, the chap went red in the face and started choking. You could see the wife panicking.
“But about three or four paces away, within a second of seeing the guy struggling, Edu went straight in and performed the Heinlich manoeuvre and must have cleared the throat within three pumps or so.
“It must have been so traumatising for the man as time seemed to stop still.
“We are all so amazed and so thankful that Edu sprung into action and knew what to do in that situation. You hear about these situations all the time and think what would I have done?
“But when you are in that moment he clicked into his training and did the right thing.
“He showed amazing intuition and bravery. What an incredible thing to have done.
“Edu of course is his usual modest self and did not want anything made of it, even though he deserves all the praise.”
