It was a close call. This Friday, November 15, final year students from the Saint-Ivy high school in Pontivy (56) saved their kayak instructor from drowning, who was suffering from an epileptic attack on board his boat.
According to our colleagues from Ouest-France, that morning, the final year class was in a kayaking session on the Nantes-Brest canal. The twenty students were divided into two groups: one with their PE teacher, Philippe Herpe, and another with an instructor from the Pontivy kayak club.
The hospitalized monitor
Around 11 a.m., some students saw the instructor convulsing aboard his kayak before falling into the water. Immediately, Justin Grulier, former French kayaking champion, and his comrade Valentin Bellec, dove in to return the man still clinging to his boat.
“They immediately managed to put the kayak right side up, it must have taken between ten and fifteen seconds,” Professor Philippe Herpe, who joined the students with his group in view of the situation, testified to Ouest-France. 'hustle.
“It’s a real achievement because with the weight of the boat, the person and the water, everything must have weighed 100kg,” he explained.
Once near the shore, the students still had to hoist the instructor and the kayak onto the bank, which was five to six meters higher. Paralyzed by the convulsions, it was immediately impossible to free the man from the structure.
Warned by a student, the firefighters arrived on site in less than ten minutes, indicates Ouest-France. The monitor was hospitalized and “should not have any after-effects”.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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