9:35am Sunday 27th May 2012
By Tom Jennings
A WOMAN told yesterday of the desperate attempts to rescue a 15-year-old drowning in the Thames.
About 20 people jumped into the River Thames on Friday night to try and pull Hussain Mohammed, of Cowley, from the water.
The teenager jumped into the river from Donnington Bridge along with a teenage girl at about 8.30pm.
The girl managed to swim to safety, but Hussain did not. He was pulled unconscious from the water by the fire service at 10.20pm and was later pronounced dead at hospital.
Kayleigh Robbins, 21, of Littlemore, was on the river bank with friends on Friday night and was the first in the water after hearing Hussain’s cries for help.
She said: “I dived in but as I got to him he went under. I dived to the bottom a few times and looked and felt around but I could not find him.
“Everyone was just so interested in finding him. Nobody really thought about anything else - we all just went into overdrive.
“But after it had all happened and they pulled him out I just broke down.
“He was very close to me when he went under and I keep picturing that in my head. I wish I had jumped in a couple of seconds earlier.”
Miss Robbins was treated by the ambulance service for swallowing large amounts of water and the teenage girl who had also jumped into the water was taken to hospital with non life threatening injuries.
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