A NI teen is set to be honoured at the Pride of Britain Awards after saving the lives of her father and a family friend.
15-year-old Lucy Montgomery saved them after they were swept away by treacherous river currents when on holiday with her family in France, the Mirror reports.
The Armagh girl will be given the Teenager of Courage award after the ordeal.
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Lucy was paddle-boarding in the Charente River with 8-year-old Mathieu, the son of a family friend, when she noticed he was in trouble.
Mathieu had started drifting away pulled by a strong current which was taking him into much deeper, dangerous waters.
The child panicked and Lucy immediately tried to reassure him and walked alongside him in shallow water close to the riverbank.
Her father Graham can’t swim and was also walking along in the water to assist Mathieu but the flow became stronger.
Mathieu and his paddle board were swept away but Lucy started to swim out to him herself and was able to bring him onto the bank.
She had told her father to swim back but Graham was then swept into a deeper part of the river.
Lucy, who as 14 at the time, got back into the river and swam to him, getting him to turn onto his back so he would float.
Mathieu’s father, Pascal helped her pull Graham to the edge, but she was then left exhausted with no strength. Lucy was then pulled out into deep water.
She spotted her paddle board in the water and held onto it, finally drifting to the safety of the riverbank.
Headteacher Graham said: “I can’t swim and there was a limit to what I could do.
“I have no doubt that Lucy’s quick and decisive actions that afternoon prevented injury and perhaps worse to a frightened child and prevented me from drowning.
“As a family we couldn’t be prouder to see her recognised in this way.”
The Pride of Britain Awards will be broadcast on ITV on October 27 at 8pm.
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