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Young Girl Rescued After Nearly Drowning At Milton Pond

MILTON (CBS) -- A young girl who nearly drowned at Houghton's Pond in Milton has several beachgoers to thank for helping to save her life.

9-year-old Derek Garcia said when he saw the six year old girl floating in the water he knew something was wrong.

"I ran as fast as I can to two people saying a little girl is drowning," he told WBZ-TV's Paul Burton.

Derek says the little girl was playing with a bucket of sand on the beach, but somehow that bucket got away and started to float away in the water. So, she went after it.

Moments later, he started screaming for help"

"She wasn't that far out," Derek says. "She was six feet away from the shore but it's so deep."

Theodoro Morais was enjoying a day at the pond with his family when he heard Derek screaming for help.

He ran to the shore and the boy pointed him in the direction of a girl who was struggling in the water.

Instinct kicked in, and Morias jumped in to help.

"I saw her rolling over and starting to drown," he said.

"I couldn't think about anything, I just ran and jumped inside the water."

Morias said when he brought the girl to shore, her face was purple and she passed out.

"Even though I'm not a father yet, I couldn't take it, I started crying," he said. "It was pretty intense."

Two other men started giving the girl CPR and she eventually started breathing again.

Milton Silva, who is trained in CPR, then rushed over to help her.

"As soon as I pressed the chest, the girl (threw) all the water out of her lungs," he said, "And the girl opened her eyes like this, and I said 'Oh my God! We saved this girl."

The 6-year-old was taken to Boston Medical Center. She is expected to be OK.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports: 

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