Drowning teenage girls saved by space hopper

Two teenage girls have been saved from drowning by a space hopper thrown out by a quick-thinking onlooker. The rubber inflatable toy with large handles was used by the girls to swim to a life buoy, where they waited to be rescued by a lifeboat crew. The crew then plucked the girls, aged 15 and 16, from the crashing waves at Dawlish, Devon. The girls' screams for help were heard by bricklayer Matthew Gribble, 24, from his flat in the seaside town on Saturday evening.



He ran almost a mile to the seawall, dashed across a seafront railway line along with his friend Andrew Riches, also 24, Joined by a third pal, 24 year old Leigh Larratt, they threw a lifebuoy to the terrified girls but it would not reach them. A neighbour then came out with the space hopper and the inflatable toy was hurled by Matthew into the sea. Leigh said: 'We were just trying to scream to them to swim to the life buoy. To be honest the only thing that saved them was one of my neighbours, Shane, brought out a space hopper.

'Matt - with a brillaint throw - managed to get it right next to the girls and they managed to get hold of the space hopper for a long enough time to get hold of the life buoy. The space hopper saved the day.' Lifeboat helmsman Giles White said: 'A few more minutes and the girls would most likely have drowned. They were so near to dying. Any longer and we would have been pulling out bodies. Both were hanging on to the torpedo buoys.'



The semi conscious 15 year old girl had inhaled sea water but was released from hospital after spending a night in intensive care. Brixham coastgards coordinated the rescue and watch manager Dave Scullion said: 'These two girls are incredibly lucky. They owe their lives to the quick thinking of a group of boys on scene.