Hero dad pulls entire family of six from sea in ‘miracle’ rescue including kids, 6 & 8, before giving life-saving CPR
A HERO dad pulled an entire family of six, including two kids, from the sea in a “miracle” rescue – before giving life-saving CPR to a drowning girl.
Kevin Viles was enjoying a walk with his own family when the horror occurred – as he noticed a whole family had been swept into the sea in Gwithian, Cornwall.
The group had been standing on rocks before six of them were swamped by large waves – prompting the 44-year-old to spring into action.
Business owner Kevin quickly helped and pulled the family out of the sea one by one after noticing they were in trouble.
On top of that, he also had to resuscitate one of the family members who was unresponsive.
Before long, the Cornwall Air Ambulance as well as an RNLI lifeboat were at the scene.
Hero Kevin said the ordeal was “the worst thing he’s lived through.”
The 44-year-old was convinced that one of the poor family members were going to die.
He added: “We were walking the dog and walked there to see the lighthouse because my son is doing a school project about lighthouses.
“We were taking videos when my partner Lisa ran up to me saying, ‘there are people in the water.’
“There were about six people out in different depths, two men in the shore who looked like they were drowning.
“There were two children, about six and eight years old, a boy and a girl.
“They were being tossed around in the waves.
“I can’t really remember how I dragged them up. None of them had any energy.”
Kevin first pulled a woman out of the water, while his partner Lisa, 37, alerted the coastguard.
“I was passing them to my family and my family was helping them up the steps,” Kevin said.
He went on to help another girl, who was about 12, who was vomiting and had collapsed.
“A woman washed in, face down,” he added.
“The men wanted to help, but they were helpless, they were exhausted.
“It felt like she was gone. We had waves crashing over us still.
“I tried to give her CPR but her jaw was locked.
“Someone gave her chest compressions while I was trying to wake her up.
“She breathed a little bit. We had to carry her up. She was the last one to come up.
“We put coats onto them and the emergency services started to arrive.”
Despite the fact it took 20 minutes for emergency services to arrive, Kevin said it felt “like a lifetime.”
He added: “It is unbelievable that they are still alive. It was a miracle.
“I saw people who were dead as far as I’m concerned.”
Just a couple of minutes before he made the daring rescue Kevin was eating an ice cream.
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Several of the people rescued were taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Kevin has since received messages of thanks from the family and the emergency services.