Nazlie Selimaj (34 years old) from Fislisbach AG wanted to spend a nice day at the Bergholz outdoor pool in Wil SG last Sunday with her family.

“My sister lives with her family in that area, and we were excited about the sunny day at the pool,” says the Kosovar woman to Blick.

But then, in the afternoon shortly before 5 pm, a dramatic incident occurs at the middle swimming pool.

Selimaj says, “that’s when I saved the life of a four-year-old Afghan boy.”

Just a few minutes earlier, she had been enjoying an ice cream with her husband (36 years old), her sons (5 and 9 respectively) and her sister’s family at the sunbathing area near the swimming pools.

“That’s when my husband saw a father running to the middle pool, pulling his son out of the water, and then holding him helplessly in his arms,” says Selimaj. “The boy was unconscious, and the father was overwhelmed.”

Selimaj immediately ran to the two of them, took the child from the father, and provided first aid. “I held the boy from behind under the armpits and felt the water coming out of his body,” she says.

Then, because “I couldn’t find his pulse”, she laid the boy on the ground and performed cardiac massage with one hand.

Selimaj, who works as a nursing assistant, knew what she was doing. The boy regained consciousness.

“At that moment, his father collapsed,” she confesses.

The boy’s mother was also present, and the father regained consciousness shortly afterward.

“I then handed their child back to them,” Selimaj adds.

“I still had an uneasy feeling. The boy was very pale, and his fingers were blue,” says Selimaj. Therefore, she stayed with the family and told the lifeguard who arrived that an ambulance had to be called. Shortly afterward, the ambulance arrived on the scene.

The patient was transferred to the Eastern Swiss Children’s Hospital in a “completely stable state”.

“I was no longer worried about the boy. I later learned that he had suffered from severe oxygen deficiency in the blood,” said Selimaj.

The 4-year-old is now back home. His father does not want to publicly comment on the incident, but thanked the Kosovar woman multiple times and said that his son could actually swim and probably went into shock in the water.

Apparently, he had been playing with his brother and fell into the pool.

Is the rescuer proud of her actions? “Yes, indeed. It’s a nice feeling. In such a situation, you simply help,” she says.