A woman has spoken of the moment she managed to pull a teenage girl to safety from a notoriously dangerous stretch of sea at Broughty Ferry beach.
Jenna Davidson, from Aberdeen, noticed a girl aged around 13 or 14 had separated from her group of friends in the water near Broughty Castle on Wednesday afternoon.
The girl was being dragged away by the current as the waves churned around the rocky coastline.
Jenna, a 42 year-old dental nurse said: “She was drifting further and further away and people were shouting at her to come towards us but she couldn’t.
“This went on for about five minutes and I realised I would need to go in.
“I waded in to the water and because I’m quite tall, my feet were still touching the ground.
“When I got close to her she managed to grab a buoy from one side and I grabbed it from the other and pulled her in.
“It’s scary but I think if it was any further I might not have been able to reach her. The water was swirling and foamy so it looked really dangerous.
“It’s only just hitting home now and I’m left thinking ‘crikey, that did actually happen’.”
A lifeboat from the nearby Ferry station arrived just after the teenager had reached the safety of the beach at around 3pm.
As she had swallowed sea water she was assessed by the team before paramedics arrived to give her a second check-over.
Two of the girl’s friends were also assessed as they had been in the water for some time trying to help.
All three were found to be shaken up but otherwise OK.
It comes just weeks after an off-duty policeman rescued two girls aged around 13 from the same spot near the rocks close to the castle.
The council has warned people to stay out of the water altogether this summer after it emerged lifeguards would not be stationed on the beach this season.
It is understood the decision was not made for financial reasons but due to a shortage of trained candidates brought about by the Covid-19 crisis.
The local authority has put up temporary signage around the coastline area to reinforce its message.
Jenna, who was visiting her mum in Ardler near Meigle in Angus, said her years of open water swimming meant she was more comfortable than most in the situation.
She said: “I know you are not really supposed to go in water to help someone because it could be dangerous for you too.
“I wanted to try though because the tide was quite low and it was still shallow. She had her clothes on so I knew that was making things much worse.
“I swim in the sea pretty much every day but it is different when it’s an area you’ve never swam in.
“It seems quite a dangerous spot. I heard about the rescue recently in the same area and it’s not something that should happen as regular as this.
“The poor girl was really frightened but I’m so thankful she is OK.”
