Pride of Australia: Sam King saves woman who almost drowned at a house party

Sam King thought it was going to be an ordinary night out with mates when he met up with friends in Fortitude Valley, before getting a last-minute invite to a house party. What happened 15 minutes after he arrived left a young woman owing him her life.

A MAN who saved a young woman who almost drowned at a house party says he will never forget the image of her body “floating” face down in the pool.

Sam King, 23, thought it was going to be an ordinary night out with mates when he met up with friends in Fortitude Valley before getting a last-minute invite to a house party on October 26 last year.

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Speaking to The Courier-Mail, Mr King said he’d been at the party for about 15 minutes and didn’t know anyone there so he was introducing himself to someone when he noticed a woman in the pool.

“I just looked over and noticed there was someone in the pool. And I thought oh she might be swimming,” Mr King said.

Sam King has been nominated for the Pride of Australia award after he saved a young woman’s life at a house party last October. Picture: AAP Image/Attila Csaszar

The engineering combined commerce student said he didn’t think much of it until about 3-5 minutes later when he noticed she was still there but “floating.”

“I then glanced back and she was just floating. It was a horrible image,” he said.

Mr King said he screamed for help before he ran and jumped into the pool.

As soon as the former lifeguard touched the girl’s body he realised he had to get her out.

“She was blue and felt very cold. She had her face down in the water,” Mr King said.

He called for help and another man assisted on to the pool side.

Mr King who was previously a lifeguard on Magnetic Island said she wasn’t breathing so he immediately started CPR.

After 3-4 cycles of compressions and breaths, she coughed up water but that wasn’t the end of it.

“She came back and was breathing in rapidly, hyperventilating obviously getting oxygen into the brain,” he said.

But then alarm bells rang when she started “murmuring” saying she couldn’t feel her back.

He then put her in recovery position before the paramedics arrived and rushed her to hospital.

They later found out that the woman had dived into the pool and hit her head at the bottom, breaking her C3 and C4.

The woman who asked not to be identified is still on the road to recovery and is understood to have started walking again.

Sam King’s father Michael has nominated his son for the Pride of Australia awards which are dedicated to the community’s unsung heroes.

Michael said his son had called him just after the event and was “completely rattled.”

The father-of-three, who lives in Townsville, said it was “miraculous” she survived.

“He stepped up and did the job which was great. I was completely proud of him. His actions saved this girl’s life,” he said.

Michael said it was “lucky” his son had the skills and happened to be at the party.

“Is it heroic? I don’t know but when the opportunity arises and you see something like that you can either panic or let someone else do it or jump in yourself. That takes a certain amount of courage,” he said.