WHAT could have been a tragedy for one family on a cruise to the Bahamas this week ended happily when a lifeguard at the Ocean Club saved a mother from drowning this week.

Lifeguard McKeeve Chan Tack was at his post on Cabbage Beach when he heard about a woman who had suffered the effects of near-drowning and came to the rescue.

In an interview with The Tribune, he said: "A lady came down from the public end of the beach and told (me and another lifeguard) that a lady had drowned about five minutes ago.

"I grabbed the bag and got one of my co-workers. We ran down the beach and she was surrounded by people on land."

The tourist had been rescued from the water but she was barely breathing, Mr. Chan Tack, who has been working as a lifeguard for two years, said.

"We got to work. She was surrounded by about ten people and about five of them were 'doctors' but they weren't treating her properly so she was choking. She was laying on her back, choking on the water that entered her lungs or whatever. We didn't have to do CPR because she still had a pulse but we did give her some rescue breaths to help her bring the water back up and then we gave her oxygen and then we waited until the paramedics came."

The woman, he said, was surrounded by her two teenage children who were in distress watching their mother gasp for air.

"They were very thankful," he said.

Mr. Chan Tack said the woman he helped was Deepa Shah, a radiologist. There was still one unfortunate outcome from the incident: the family missed their cruise leaving the Bahamas.

By Lamech Johnson, Tribune Staff Reporter

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