Author: Amy Chillag / Source: CNN
(CNN)When Advaik Nandikotkur’s mother urged him to jump into the deep end of a swimming pool to save a man who was drowning, he had some hesitation.
The 34-year-old man had sunk to the bottom of an indoor pool at their apartment complex in suburban St.
Paul, Minnesota. He was in the deep end, about eight feet down, floating with his hands stretched out and his mouth and eyes wide open.Advaik’s mother, Lalitha Mareddy, said there were at least nine men around the pool. But when she yelled for help, no one responded.
Advaik’s father, Raghu Nandikotkur, tried to save the man by jumping in with a floating tube, but “It was pushing me up and I was unable to grab him,” he said.
A flashback to a swim-class drill
In the split second before Mareddy asked her son to help, she remembered a drill from his swim class.
“I saw him go to the bottom of the pool and collect rings and come up. That just flashed in my mind,” she said. “If he can go get three things while controlling his breath …”
The fifth-grader swam down, grabbed the man’s wrist and pulled him to the surface.
On the surface of the pool, Advaik’s father helped grab the man and steer him to the edge of the pool. Neighbors helped pull him from the pool, where Advaik’s uncle, Suseel Kumar Nandikotkur, jumped into action.
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