Lifesaver Ray is guardian angel

A father-of-two has been hailed "an angel" after he rescued a seven-year-old girl from drowning in a swimming pool on a cruise ship.

Ray Galligan jumped into the water when he realised Christina Zecchino was lying motionless at the bottom.

After pulling her out of the water, he performed emergency resuscitation to get her breathing again as her terrified parents looked on.

Ray, from Syston, was on a cruise in the Canary Islands with his wife and two children.

Christina, who had started to turn blue, was rushed off the ship and taken to hospital in Gran Canaria, where she remained in intensive care for 24 hours.

She has now made a full recovery since the incident on Monday last week, but her parents, Val and Dino, from Glasgow, believe she would not be alive today if Ray had not jumped in to save her.

Ray, 45, said: "It's a happy ending, but it might not have been. There were others in the pool, but no-one else noticed.

"She was at the bottom, lying face down. When I jumped in, I expected her to flinch, but there was nothing. It was very scary."

Ray and Tracey, of Tentercroft Avenue, went on the cruise with their daughter Siana-Rae and 16-month-old son Cole, to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary and renew their vows.

Christina had been playing in the pool with the Siana-Rae, aged five, who alerted her parents when she realised something was wrong.

Val and Dino, who were on the holiday with their other daughter Daniella, nine, were sitting by the pool.

Dino, 37, said: "She was swimming in front of us and she was fine. Then we noticed Ray going in to the pool.

"He came up with Christina and when that happened, we kind of fell to pieces.

"It all happened in a minute – less than that. If it wasn't for Ray, our wee girl wouldn't be here."

Val, 34, said: "Christina's fine now. We're just struggling to cope with the 'what ifs?' We need to stop that, but it's hard. Ray has forever changed our lives. There are no words that can say thank you enough. They are our angels."

Tracey, 38, said her husband has been left traumatised by the incident.

She said: "He had only done a basic first aid course about 20 years ago and he did brilliantly resuscitating her.

"He has been suffering from flashbacks about it since we've been home. He's certainly my hero and I'm so proud of him."