Nine-year-old heroine

Lifesaver: “I’m happy that Ayla is alive”

Primary school pupil Nefes (9) and her dad Rifat were there in time.(Bild: Gerhard Hütmeyer)

The girl who was rescued from the swimming pool in Bad Hall-Pfarrkirchen on Monday has already been transferred from the children's intensive care unit to the normal ward at Linz University Hospital. Ayla, who comes from Germany, is out of danger. Her family has now thanked her rescuer Nefes (9) from Garsten. 

The day after the dramatic rescue operation in the Bad Hall-Pfarrkirchen outdoor pool, Nefes, the nine-year-old heroine from Garsten, can laugh again. "I was given a chocolate milk ice cream today by an older bather who congratulated me on saving his life," says the happy primary school pupil.

But she is even happier that ten-year-old Ayla from Germany, who was floating motionless in the water after an epileptic seizure, has already been transferred from the intensive care unit at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz to the normal ward. "That makes me very happy," says Nefes.

The life-threatening incident happened on Monday at the Bad Hall-Pfarrkirchen outdoor pool.(Bild: Gerhard Hütmeyer)

Danger recognized
If the nine-year-old had not been so attentive, Ayla would no longer be alive. As reported, Nefes had noticed while diving that the other child was in acute mortal danger.

She immediately called her dad, who lifted the motionless girl's head out of the water and heaved her out of the pool together with the lifeguard. After her mouth was cleaned, Ayla began to breathe again and was flown to hospital.

Back in the outdoor pool
The horror of what she had experienced was still written all over Nefes' face on Monday evening, but on Tuesday she went swimming again with her father. Ayla's family have also thanked Nefes and her dad for saving her life.

The 1.5-year-old boy who fell out of a window in Niederthalheim on Monday remains in intensive care.