Wednesday, September 11, 2024

4 THE STAR NEWS • Wednesday, September 11, 2024 @JamaicaStar www.facebook.com/JamaicaStar • www.jamaica-star.com SIMONE MORGAN-LINDO STAR Writer A s heavy rains lashed sections of the Corpora t e Area yesterday, Majesty Gardens resident Anthony Sutherland got comfy inside his house and began to watch an action movie. Little did he know that just minutes later, he would be involved in an actual action sequence and life- saving occurrence. The Kingston 11 fisherman is being hailed as a hero after he successfully pulled a woman who was being washed away by floodwaters from the Sandy Gully. “A Fada God send mi come do dis because mi inna mi house a watch show and mi babymadda come tell mi say ‘Yuh in yah a watch show and people a drown’ because she know say mi is a lifesaver. Any little ting and fire a gwan, mi a save people. Nuff time mi run inna place and go take out pickney outta fire. Mi nuh back [down] from nutten,” he said. It is reported that sometime after 4 p.m., resident Ian King was outside when he saw a man being washed away by the raging waters. As he shouted for help, residents tried to assist but were unsuccessful. As they rushed over to Chesterfield Drive in search of the youngster, Sutherland said he came out of his house in the rain and stood looking at the overflowing gully. “Mi deh outside and a tell miself say mi sorry mi never come out in time to save the youth. The rain a fall and mi stand up a look at the water a rise in the gully. Den mi see a pallet a float a come down the gully. Mi see di woman same time and mi knowmi ago save har. She inna a red top and a black shorts,” he said. Sutherland said that upon seeing him, the woman pleaded with him to assist her while stating that she could not swim. “Mi tell her to hold on to di pallet but she let it go or it let her go, and she float over. But di water still bring her to the corner same way, suh mi see say God real because if a never God, she gone. Yuh see when she come over now, mi just lock mi foot round di gully edge. Mi wait pon her because she a float a come dung pon her face and mi just grab har in har neck and draw har in. Mi deh pon di gully edge because it deep and if mi did jump off inna dat, mi gooda all drown too,” Sutherland said. “When mi lap har and draw her in to mi, I start call out fi help and den two more youth come help mi. It look like a did the last of her because when mi hold on pon har suh, mi feel di dead weight. Mi strong but mi alone couldn’t take her over,” he added. He told THE STAR that after the woman was pulled to safer ground, she lost consciousness, but he initially thought she had died. However, he ‘brought her back to life’ with a few pats to the face. “When mi draw har up she say ‘Mi love yuh’ and knock out. And mi guh suh and knock her face and say ‘Don’t dead eno. Yuh dead?’ and she say ‘No mi nuh dead’ and mi say ‘Gwan rest off.’ She vomit up a whole heap a water. Her foot and leg chop out and her finger dem chop up because she a tumble a come down. It was a terrible sight,” Sutherland explained. As members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Fire Brigade went in search of the missing male, youth from Majesty Gardens joined the search team. Armed with machetes to chop away the thick vegetation, the group searched along the gully’s path that ran through sections of Seaview Gardens. Up to press time last evening, the male remained missing. Hero pulls woman from BRINK OF DEATH Anthony Sutherland explains how he rescued the woman from being washed away. Sutherland said that at one point, he thought the woman had died. A ntoine L odge “Mi tell her to hold on to di pallet but she let it go or it let her go, and she float over. But di water still bring her to the corner same way, suh mi see say God real because if a never God, she gone.”