An American man who helped rescue a six-year-old girl who was being swept out to sea on a lilo in Dublin says it took almost an hour to bring her back to shore.
The girl's father raised the alarm on Portmarnock beach yesterday afternoon after she began drifting away from land on the flotation device.
Walter Butler, Eoghan Butler, Declan Butler and Alex Thomson had just arrived on the beach at the time.
21-year-old Walter and his relatives swam out to the little girl.
The US Coast Guard spoke to Moncrieff about the experience.
Walter explained: "My family and I had literally just taken our shirts off and were walking into the water.
"We heard the dad shouting for a lifeguard over and over again. We looked out and we saw a pink flamingo, with a little girl screaming.
"Someone had tried to swim and stop her... they didn't succeed in doing so. With the winds and the currents at the time, it was like a sailboat going straight out to see."
He explained that by the time his brothers actually reached the girl she was around a mile from the shore.
Walter ended up turning back in case he needed energy to provide first aid back at shore, while his brothers worked to rescue the girl.
He said: "It looked like we left about 2:05-2:10pm - we didn't get her on land until around 2:50ish, almost three o'clock... she just kept getting further and further away. We had our doubts but we weren't going to give up.
"She was definitely scared for her life. She was conscious, breathing throughout. She was suffering from some forms of shock."
Walter and his family members are in Ireland for his grandfather's funeral, and he explained that it's his first time in the country.
He told Sean that while he's been involved in US Coast Guard rescue missions before, swimming out so far to rescue someone is "not standard Coast Guard operations".
Walter added that they'll be seeing the girl and her family again shortly following yesterday's dramatic rescue.
