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College student saves 3 girls from drowning during Seafair
Several young kids and their families are thankful for Lillie Vehling, a UC Davis student with lifeguarding experience she put to use after seeing three girls drowning at Seattle's Genessee Park.
SEATTLE, WA - Several young kids and their families will never forget the name Lillie Vehling: the college student who saved three girls from drowning during Seafair weekend.
The backstory:
It happened last Friday at Genessee Park when she went to see the Blue Angels. But when she scanned the water, she knew something was wrong.
"There were three girls who were out pretty far by the buoy lane that they had set up, and they did not look very good," Vehling said. "They were already bobbing up and down trying to get breaths, and one of the girls was actually drowning the others in order to breathe, and that's when I knew I had to jump in."
Lillie Vehling
Vehling sprang into action, putting her past lifeguard experience to use and rushing to save the three girls in trouble.
"I first grabbed the girl that was drowning the other two to get her out of the environment so that the other two weren't even in worse shape, and I removed them one by one. The first girl, again, I don't really remember how I did it but, got her back to the shallow water."
Lillie got the second girl to safety and went right for the third girl in the water. At that point, Lillie says she was mostly underwater and appeared unconscious. The girl was also tangled up in the buoy rope, so she had to act quickly.
"Unfortunately by the time I had gotten to the third girl, it was just the top of her head that was there," Vehling said. "I just saw her black hair in the water barely floating and when I got to her she was unconscious. I lifted her head up out of the water and had my arm underneath her armpit holding her up."
The last girl coughed up water and regained consciousness. The terrifying incident had a happy ending, thanks to Lillie.
Seafair President Emily Cantrell and her team are making sure Lillie feels appreciated. She was invited to join the Seafair Gala, where they knighted her and made Lillie Seafair royalty.
She also got a special view of the Blue Angels. The UC Davis student is pursuing a career in the Nuclear Navy because of the Blue Angels, as she admires the Navy squadron.
Lillie Vehling
What's next:
Cantrell said she hopes Lillie will be back at Seafair not as a guest, but as a Blue Angels pilot.
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The Source: Information in this story came from Seafair and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.