SPF honours off-duty cop who rescued drowning toddler from hotel pool

Singapore—Some heroes never go off-duty, it seems.

One example of this is police officer Sergeant Asyraf Bin Azman, 22, from the Nanyang Neighbourhood Police Centre. 

Last month, the quick-thinking policeman, who has been on the force only for a year, was at the swimming pool of a hotel when he saw a little girl moving under water. 

And without a moment’s hesitation, he rescued her.

For this, he was commended by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Thursday (Mar 18).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) wrote about Sgt Asyraf’s heroic deed in a Facebook post, which said that the child was without a pulse when the police officer brought her out of the water.

“SGT Asyraf immediately conducted Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on the child together with the child’s father,” wrote the SCDF.

Fortunately, the little girl regained consciousness even before  the SCDF’s emergency medical services arrived.

The sergeant has been awarded the SCDF Community Lifesaver Award “for his gallant rescue and timely intervention.”

The award was presented to him by Col Shaiful Herman Bin Shali, the Commander of the 1st SCDF Division.

As part of his basic training with the police force, Sgt Asyraf received training in both CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) skills, as noted in the SCDF post. 

However, these key lifesaving skills had already been learned by the police officer when he was in school at Republic Poly.

The SCDF Facebook post added that anyone can learn CPR-AED in the SCDF’s Community Emergency Preparedness (CEPP) e-modules online at http://scdf.gov.sg/responseready.

According to The New Paper (TNP), the rescue occurred last month, on Feb 27.

On the day of the incident, a Saturday, the three-year-old was at the pool with her family.

Sgt Asyraf, who was there with his friends, saw “something pink underwater that was not moving for seven to 10 seconds,” he told TNP. “

“I thought it was weird, so I went into the water and walked closer. Then I saw arms and legs. From there, I dived in and pulled her out,” he added.

The little girl’s father saw what happened and rushed over to them.

After CPR was performed on the little girl, she began to spit out water.

“The girl’s mother approached me before the ambulance left and thanked me, telling me, ‘I wouldn’t know what would have happened if you weren’t there,’” added the sergeant to TNP.

Of his Community Lifesaver Award, he said he hoped his actions would inspire others. “I am not receiving this award because I am a police officer – anyone can receive this award. I hope it can help people realise that anyone can save lives,” he said.

/TISG

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