Well known horse trainer and hotel owner John Nallen paid tribute to the ‘unbelievable’ emergency services that saved his teenage son’s life last week.
Jack Nallen, 16, accidentally entered the River Suir close to his family’s Minella Hotel in Tipperary last Thursday.
An onlooker on the opposite side of the riverbank saw what had happened and immediately called 999.
The gardai, fire and ambulance services were mobilised, and Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue along with the Coastguard helicopter arrived at the scene.
After being in the river for almost an hour, Jack, who has special needs, was winched to safety and taken to Tipperary University Hospital.
John Nallen, the former owner of two horses that won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Aintree Grand National, told the Irish Mirror: "I want to acknowledge the nurses and the hospital and the ambulance and everything. They were fantastic."
Mr Nallen also thanked the emergency services for their quick response in saving his son.
He added: “They all risked their lives… two guards passed me, and they were like a Labrador going after a duck into a pond.
"They'e a credit to the country. They were unbelievable, and the woman that saw him saw him in the river, she acted so quickly."
Two gardai entered the river in an attempt to rescue Jack, but the current was too strong.
Emergency services kept him in sight as he was carried further downstream.
Mr Nallen said: “I didn't know the chaps that went in. They were just straight in like you know they're just unreal.”
Tipperary Fire Service Assistant Chief Fire Officer Carol Kennedy said Jack was carried quite a distance downstream.
She said: “His parents should be proud of him. A lot of people wouldn’t have survived. He took up the right swimming position, he went a long way to help himself in the situation.”
After a few days spent in hospital, Jack was well enough to return to school last Monday.
