A GROUP of hero medical students saved the life of an OAP after they spotted her apparently lifeless body floating in the seas.
The six trainee-doctors from St Andrews – along a student who is a talented swimmer – were on the town’s famous east sands beach to enjoy an early morning dip.
But they sprang into action after spotting the unnamed 75-year-old in the sea.
Swimmer Hannah Cope dived in and pulled the woman to the shore and then her colleagues used their newly-learned medical skills to revive her.
By chance the talented youngsters had decided to visit the beach at 7.15am before taking part in the annual “foam fight” with other St Andrews students.
First-year sustainable development student, Hannah, who is a member of St.Andrews swimming team, was first to reach the OAP – and dragged her to the shore.
She then worked with her medic friends Michael Helley, David Juhasz, Min Kim, Rachel Mansley, Jack Somerville and Rebecca Hjemdahl to strip the woman of her wet clothes and resuscitate her before the ambulance arrived.
Hannah said the woman was “unresponsive and barely breathing” when they pulled her to shore.
She added: “She would blink occasionally but she was very hypothermic and my friends were doing everything they could do to keep her warm until the paramedics could get there.
“We wrapped her up with towels and warm clothes as best we could.
“The paramedics arrived and worked on her for quite a while until they had stabilised her condition. Then they took her away to hospital.
“We’ve all been thinking about her wondering how she is hoping that she is OK.
“Our thoughts are with her and her husband.”
Hospital
The woman was transferred to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where she was admitted to a short-stay ward.
The heroic group of students had just formed a “family” in keeping with its university’s Raison Weekend, with older student Min Kim being made the group’s “mother”.
Apart from a dog walker, they were the only people in the beach.
Min Kim said: “The dog walker had first asked us if we knew the person who was in the water or whether it was some sort of doll, thinking that it was a Raison prank.
“The drowning woman was barely breathing and stayed composed as we tried to keep her conscious and waited for the paramedics.
“She started coughing up water as she warmed up, which was a good sign.
“I’m glad we were able to help her.
“There was no one else at the time on the beach and, if we weren’t there, it would have taken a significant amount of time to get help – time that might have been quite vital.”
A fife police spokesman said: “The woman was taken to Ninewells hospital where she was admitted to the short-stay ward.”
