A young Irish woman turned into a hero when she sprinted into the water to save a dad and three kids from drowning.
Jane Friel, 21, was on Portsalon Beach in Donegal last Tuesday having a picnic with her cousin when she heard a family was in trouble.
The cinema worker, who trained as a lifeguard, ran into the sea without taking off her clothes to save the dad and three young girls.
She told Joe Duffy on RTE's Liveline: "A woman came up behind us and was chatting to the man behind us and was saying 'my family are in difficulty, I think they are drowning, is there a lifeguard?'
"But there was no lifeguard on the beach, I trained as a lifeguard, I did my first training four years ago and then renewed it two years ago.
"But I've never worked as a lifeguard."
Despite Jane's lack of lifeguard experience she sprinted into the water to help.
She continued: "I pulled off my jacket, my shoes and my sunglasses and went running towards the water.
"A man gave me a life ring and I ran into the water and I could see them then so I swam out to them and it was a man and his three daughters.
"They were between eight and 13, they could all swim but they got pulled out too far.
"The first girl was the closest to me and she seemed visibly upset, I pushed the life ring to her and got her to grab onto it and I swam in a bit with her.
"Someone was on the beach and able to pull the string in.
"I went back out and was able to get the second girl to calm down and hang onto the body board she had and I said to the dad will ye be ok but at that stage he was able to swim back with the last girl.
"He even said he wasn't a strong swimmer but he did great to even keep them above the water until someone came out.
"We all got back in safely anyway."
The Donegal woman said everyone involved was shaken after the incident but the family were very thankful for what she did.
And the mother was on hand to give Jane clothes after her own got soaked in the rescue mission.
She added: "They were very relieved and very thankful and the mother gave me clothes as I didn't have any. The mother gave me shorts as she had a spare pair."
The family have since been in touch to thank Jane again and are all said to be doing well.
