British student saves family from drowning after boat capsized in Majorca
A British student has saved his parents and his girlfriend from drowning after their boat capsized on holiday in Majorca.
Ashley Matthews, 20, had just had three weeks of training with the Royal Life Saving Society UK.
The family hired a boat in Puerto Pollensa to visit a bay only accessible by water.
But as they got further out to sea, the weather became unsettled and the boat began to fill up with water.
Speaking to the Cambridge News, his mum Jane said: "All of a sudden the weather completely changed. It became very windy and the canopy of the boat started catching the waves and water started coming in.
"We started scooping it out but then an enormous wave hit us and suddenly we were up to our knees. By this time I was starting to panic. We were almost tipping over."
"Ashley passed us the life-jackets and said 'don't worry I'll be alright' and went without."
The boat then capsized and Ahsley's dad Russ became trapped underneath it.
Ashley and his girlfriend managed to untangle him, before the family were picked up by another boat nearby.
According to the Daily Mail, Ashley, a PE student at Leeds Beckett University, said: "I feel that we got off lightly. It could have been a lot worse. I think it was down to the fact that training allowed me to act.
"The beach seemed like an eternity away. We were out way too far and could only hope for a miracle.
"I never dreamed that I'd need the skills I learned on the lifeguard course so quickly and that it would help my own family. It was quite a shock afterwards."
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