Teenager Sam Brear is nothing short of a hero after rescuing his best friend from drowning – despite him being three times his size.
Sam, 15, saved his best friend Adam Greening’s life after he tried swimming in the freezing-cold Aire and Calder Navigation canal, near his home in Wakefield.
Adam, 16, weighs 24 stone and is 6ft 7ins tall and Sam is 5ft 1in and weighs just eight and a half stone. But Sam still managed to keep his friend afloat for 20 minutes when he started drowning, and then pull him to safety.
Sam, a pupil at St Thomas a Beckett Catholic College, in Wakefield, said: “I tried to get him out of the water but that was just too difficult because he’s so heavy.
“So I held him up and kept him talking until the fire brigade came.”
Adam, of Saville Street, College Grove, said: “I thought I was going to die – it was awful.
“It was the first time I’ve swum in a canal and I won’t be doing it again.”
The emergency services arrived moments after the rescue and treated Adam, who had lost consciousness. He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital, in Wakefield.
Adam and Sam have lived on the same street since they were toddlers and always attract a lot of attention when they are out together because of their difference in size.
Wakefield Fire crew commander David Hollingsworth has now issued a warning to other youngsters: “This boy was very lucky to be alive.
“Young people need to realise how dangerous it is to jump into canals.”