A hero dad was forced to leap into a Dundee swimming pool to rescue a nine-year-old girl from drowning.
The nine-year-old was spotted motionless in the deep end at Dundee’s Olympia centre on Saturday afternoon.
Stephen Goligher leapt into the water ahead of lifeguards to bring the youngster to the side of the pool.
The 44-year-old, a former lifeguard with emergency medical training, helped staff at the pool resuscitate the girl as paramedics rushed to the scene.
They swiftly took her to Ninewells Hospital where she is understood to have made a swift recovery, despite her ordeal.
Mr Goligher, from Carnoustie, was sitting at poolside as his son enjoyed a swim and admitted he feared the worst as he spotted the child in the water.
“She was face down in the deep end and starting to go under and it didn’t seem like anyone had seen her,” he told The Courier.
“I shouted at the lifeguards and then jumped into the water to help her. I really don’t think she had much time left.
“I grabbed the wee girl and got her to the side of the pool where I worked with one of the lifeguards to perform CPR.
“Thankfully the water came up and she started to breathe again and we were able to put her in the recovery position until paramedics arrived.”
Despite the aid offered by staff, Mr Goligher said he believed better safeguards needed to be in place to ensure that incidents such as this do not happen again.
“I do believe this should have been noticed by the lifeguards on duty,” he said. “There were a number of them and cameras around the water but this still seemed to have been missed.”
He said operators of the pool should give consideration to the level of emergency training provided to staff at the pool.
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said the young girl had made an excellent recovery.
He said: “We received an emergency call at around 3.30pm to report that a child was in difficulty in the water.
“The patient had been at the pool with her mother when the incident happened.We arrived on scene within minutes of the call being received by staff in our Edinburgh control room.
“The child was taken very swiftly to Ninewells Hospital in what paramedics described as a stable condition.”
The spokesman said there had been no requirement to contact the police as the girl was conscious when the crew arrived.
“Unfortunately children get into difficult in swimming pools every day,” he said.“All swimming pools have their own health and safety procedures that will operate in instances such as this.”
A Leisure & Culture Dundee spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a rescue took place of a nine-year-old girl from the Olympia leisure pool on Saturday afternoon.
“The first responder was a Leisure & Culture Dundee lifeguard who was assisted by a member of the public to take the girl to poolside and she left Olympia fully conscious.
“As a precaution she was taken to Ninewells Hospital by the Scottish Ambulance Service for observation.
“As is normal practice, an incident review has taken place and will be reported to our Health and Safety group in due course. Our lifeguard training has been recognised as one of the strongest in the UK and is externally verified.
“We acknowledge the good work of our lifeguards and thank the member of the public for his assistance. We wish the customer and her family well.”