How a HM Coastguard call handler helped a 'terrified' mum save her daughter from drowning

“My daughters are drowning…I’m just terrified.”

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare – knowing your children’s lives are at risk.

Mum Milena Smith wanted to do everything she could to help her daughters when she feared they might be drowning.

Thankfully, she called 999 and spoke to a calm and reassuring HM Coastguard call handler, who guided her and coordinated a rescue.

And one of her daughters – Elsie, 10 – helped her older sister by remembering the RNLI’s life-saving advice to ‘float to live’.

Milena is convinced Mabel, 12, is only alive today thanks to Elsie’s quick thinking. She shouted instructions, telling Mabel to float on her back rather than struggle in the water, as she was swept out to sea by the tide on August 3, 2022, at Barmouth, in Gwynedd, Wales.

Mum Milena, Elsie and Mabel with their rescuers. Credit: RNLI/Claire Elshaw

'I could hear the panic in her voice'

The mum also had ‘nothing but praise’ for HM Coastguard Rescue Officer, Ben Hillier, who answered her 999 call.

Ben was on the phone to Milena throughout, working with Coastguard colleagues at the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre who directed the rescue of the girls.

He said: “I could hear the panic in her voice – it was clear she was very worried.

“Alongside getting the details of what was going on and where our help was needed, I knew I needed to calm her down as well – so I kept telling her to describe what she could see, and keep her focused on talking to me.

“I was talking to her for more than half an hour, keeping her calm and providing as many updates as possible so it felt very good when both daughters were found safe and well and that we had a hand in helping that happen.”

'I called 999 and asked for the Coastguard'

Milena, along with a happy and healthy Mabel and Elsie, made an emotional journey back to Barmouth this week. The family met their rescuers to say thank you on Wednesday (August 24).

Remembering when disaster struck, Milena said: “It was like a scene from a nightmare.

“One minute the girls, who can swim, were playing in the sea up to their waist, it seemed so lovely and calm. There were lots of people swimming.

“Very quickly, the girls started heading further and further out and screaming loudly.

“I can’t swim and just felt so helpless. My husband went in and managed to get to my youngest daughter, who thankfully started to feel sand beneath her feet as she had reached a sandbank, but my eldest Mabel was completely out of sight.

“I was in such a state of panic."

After calling 999 and asking for the Coastguard, Milena began to feel some relief when she saw rescuers arrive.

She added: "It was so reassuring to see the lifeboat heading out there.

“I’m just so grateful Elsie had heard the float to live advice or our holiday could have ended very differently and it doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Milena and Ben Hillier from HM Coastguard, who handled her 999 call. Credit: RNLI/Claire Elshaw

The rescue

HM Coastguard received multiple 999 calls from concerned members of the public reporting three people in the water.

A RNLI lifeboat from Barmouth was immediately launched along with Aberdovey coastguard rescue teams and the coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon.

The RNLI volunteer crew quickly reached Mabel, who was calmly floating on her back but had drifted a quarter of a mile out to sea in a fast outgoing tide.

Mabel was taken back to the boathouse, where she was checked over by a paramedic before being reunited with her family.

Ben Hillier from HM Coastguard being interviewed at Barmouth about his role in the rescue of two girls. Credit: RNLI/Claire Elshaw

'Small piece of advice helped to save a life'

Daryl James, RNLI volunteer at Barmouth, added: “When you get the call to people in the water there is a massive sense of urgency as it really can be a life or death situation. When we arrived, Mabel, despite her serious predicament, had remained calm and was floating on her back with waves breaking over her.

“When we found out float advice was given to Mabel by her little sister, we were all quite overwhelmed and so relieved this small piece of advice helped to save a life. It’s very difficult to fight the instinct to panic, but Mabel did really well in staying calm and gently floating until help arrived.”

Alice Beetlestone, RNLI Water Safety Education Manager, said: “Everyone involved did the right thing, from the girls remembering the float to live technique, to mum and members of the public calling 999.”

The float to live advice if you get into trouble in the water is simple - lean back, spreading your arms and legs like a starfish to stay afloat, control your breathing, then call for help or swim to safety.

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