Former nurse saves drowning woman pulled from Turkish sea

Sonya Grist (left) was saved by Lee-Bernadette Walford after getting into difficulty while swimming

A former nurse saved a holidaymaker's life after she got into difficulty while swimming in the sea in Turkey.

Lee-Bernadette Walford, 53, was sunbathing in Olu Deniz when she heard a man cry out for help and saw him dragging someone to shore.

Mrs Walford, of Staffordshire, rushed to help and realised it was a woman who was not breathing.

She managed to use CPR to revive fellow British holidaymaker Sonya Grist, 79, and the pair are now friends.

She described how the man, a German tourist, "was dragging what I thought was a lifeless little girl out of the sea and he was shouting 'medic' 'medic'".

"She [Mrs Grist] was a dreadful colour and I basically had to start compressions," she said. Mrs Grist was later taken to hospital by ambulance and treated overnight.

"I flicked on, my adrenaline was going," said Mrs Walford.

"There were people actually videoing me doing that and lots of people didn't even get off their sunbeds to help - which is quite alarming for myself."

Lee-Bernedette Walford was sunbathing when she heard a man shouting for help

It happened on the second day of her holiday on 2 October and Mrs Walford said she had "luckily" been in earshot of the man's shouts for help.

"My husband had got a little bit sunburnt on the first day so he was trying to stay out of the sun and I decided I wanted to go further towards the shore," she said.

Two days afterwards, she bumped into Mrs Grist coming out of a sauna at the resort in Lykia.

"She just said 'you saved my life' and started to hug me. It was very, very emotional," said Mrs Walford.

The pair have since gone to dinner and become friends.

She discovered Mrs Grist, a keen sportswoman and tour guide from London, had got into trouble after getting caught in a "slight riptide".

"She was trying to reach an artificial pier and she didn't quite make it, she was getting tired."

Mrs Walford, a mother-of-four from Newcastle-under-Lyme, urged everyone to learn life-saving skills.

"I used to be a lifeguard and a nurse and I've got lots of life experiences and I'm always a little a bit aware of my surroundings," she said.

Lee-Bernadette Walford (right) urged everyone to learn CPR

Over the years, her ability to stay calm in a crisis has helped her save a number of people, including a boy who was in difficulty in a leisure centre pool and an elderly man who was choking.

Mrs Walford described new friend Mrs Grist as "so interesting, an absolutely lovely woman", adding she was going to her 80th birthday party later this month.

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