Siblings commended for saving teen from drowning

They jumped into condo pool to pull out boy found lying at bottom

Colonel Lim Boon Hwee, Commander of the 1st SCDF Division, with (from left) Mrs Laureen Cordova, her son Joshua, daughter Mikkaela, and husband Jun. With the help of her brother, Miss Cordova pulled out an unconscious boy from the 2.4m-deep pool at M
Colonel Lim Boon Hwee, Commander of the 1st SCDF Division, with (left) Mrs Laureen Cordova, her son Joshua, daughter Mikkaela, and husband Jun. With the help of her brother, Miss Cordova pulled out an unconscious boy from the 2.4m-deep pool at Marymount View condo on Christmas Day, before performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him until he regained consciousness. ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID

On Christmas Day last year, Miss Mikkaela Cordova, 20, and her brother Joshua, 13, gave a special gift to a stranger, when they jumped into a pool at their condominium to save a teenager who was drowning.

After pulling the unconscious 16-year-old boy out of the water and finding he was not breathing, Miss Cordova performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him until he regained consciousness.

For their heroic act at the Marymount View condominium, the siblings were presented with Community Lifesaver Awards by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) yesterday, at the 1st SCDF Division headquarters in Queensway.

Their father, Mr Jun Cordova, recalled that the family had planned to go out but decided to stay in for a quiet Christmas afternoon.

They were playing Scrabble in the living room of their 10th floor unit at about 6pm when they heard a cry for help.

"We had opened the windows because we wanted the breeze," said Mr Cordova, 49.

His wife looked out and saw a boy struggling in the pool. While she called 995, Mr Cordova and his children rushed downstairs.

Mr Cordova, who works in the hotel industry, said his daughter volunteered to jump into the water to save the teenager, while he ran to the guardhouse to get help. The 1.7m-tall teenager was found lying face down at the bottom of the 2.4m-deep pool.

"I couldn't pull him out on my own, that's why he (Joshua) jumped in and helped me out," said Miss Cordova, who had taken formal swimming lessons in primary school.

After they pulled the boy out, she performed CPR until an ambulance arrived and took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Miss Cordova, who works here as a regulatory and quality assurance assistant, first picked up the life-saving skill while taking a course at a polytechnic in Canada.

The incident was the first time her CPR skills were called into action.

"I am very grateful and very honoured to be able to do something like this. It makes me really appreciate the people who do this every day as a career," she said.

"At first, a part of me wasn't sure it was actually happening until we saw the guy (in the pool)."

While she remained calm throughout the ordeal, it was when SCDF officers arrived at the scene that the reality of the situation set in and she felt shaken.

They have not met the boy they saved as he had to return home to Malaysia. But they have been interacting with his family friend, who lives on the 16th floor of their block.

The friend contacted the Cordova family, who are from the Philippines, to express the gratitude of the teenager's family.

The siblings' mother, Mrs Laureen Cordova, 46, said she was very proud of her children for stepping up when it mattered.

Colonel Lim Boon Hwee, Commander of the 1st SCDF Division, who presented the awards to the siblings, commended their actions.

"It was a courageous effort to pull the 16-year-old boy out. You had the calmness and composure," he said. "This is what we want members of the public to do, to learn life-saving skills such as CPR, and have the skill and self-confidence to administer them in times of need."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on January 06, 2019, with the headline Siblings commended for saving teen from drowning. Subscribe