Ponds Forge: Hero who saved drowning girl at Sheffield pool 'so proud' of daughter who spotted her underwater

Lee Powell told how he and his children had been swimming in the leisure pool at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Thursday morning when his daughter Ruby, aged eight, dived below the surface and noticed another young girl who was unresponsive. He immediately dived down, grabbed the girl and swam with her to the side of the pool, where a lifeguard started performing CPR.

Thankfully, the girl’s mother has since told how her daughter is ‘fine’ and is now back home having spent the night in hospital as a precaution. But Lee believes she would probably have died had it not been for Ruby alerting him to her peril.

“I was playing in the deep end of the pool with my son, Sonny, and daughter, Ruby, who was diving under the water,” said Lee, a 42-year-old businessman, living in Heeley. “Ruby saw the other girl at the bottom and waved at her, thinking she was holding her breath, but she didn’t wave back and she was motionless. Ruby came up to the surface and told me ‘I think there’s something wrong with that little girl’.

“I looked under the water and noticed she was lifeless. I swam down, grabbed her and got her to the surface. I tried getting the lifeguards’ attention but they didn’t seem to notice me at first. I swam to the side while shouting louder and that’s when they noticed. I got her to the side and passed her to the lifeguard there who started performing CPR. Her lips were as purple as could be at that stage. I thought she’d already gone.”

Lee added that he initially thought the girl was aged about five but was later informed she was eight. He did not know how long she had been under the water when Ruby spotted her. He told how as the lifeguards battled to save the youngster and attempted to empty the pool, the wave machine had started, before quickly being turned off.

“If it wasn’t for Ruby she would have died,” he said. “Ruby's really friendly so she always waves and tries to interact with other children, and it was because of that need to interact that she noticed something wasn’t right.”

Lee said he and his children had been ‘a little shook up’ after what happened but he was relieved to get a call from someone at Ponds Forge that afternoon informing him that the girl was OK and was watching Frozen. “That put a smile on my daughter’s face because she’s a big fan of Frozen too and she had obviously been worried about the girl as she didn’t know what had happened to her,” added Lee. “I’m so proud of Ruby for saving that girl’s life. She was very relieved and felt proud that she might have saved someone’s life.”

The girl’s mother has praised Lee and the response by staff at the leisure pool, which was closed for the day following the near tragedy.