A mother has described the horrendous moment her little boy was swept out to sea at Aberdeen beach – and how she jumped in after him so that he wouldn’t “die alone”.
Four-year-old Eddie flipped over a boulevard fence and into turbulent waters during Storm Ashley on Sunday, sparking a frantic rescue involving heroic members of the public and emergency services.
As his panic-stricken mother, Karolina Krzyzanowska, watched from the promenade as her little boy was dragged further out into the water, she feared she would “never see her son again”.
Without hesitation, the 35-year-old dived in after him, and both mother and son found themselves trapped in the choppy seas.
Separated by 70mph winds and unable to hold on to Eddie, Karolina – exhausted from the relentless waves – admitted: “I thought I was going to die.”
“I’m not a religious person, I just had my hope,” she said. “I was just hoping that wasn’t the end of our story.”
Family day out at Aberdeen beach turned into disaster
The Press and Journal visited the pair at their home in Tillydrone today, just five days after their traumatic ordeal.
Despite the harrowing experience, they have made a remarkable recovery, with little Eddie joyfully running around and playing with his toys.
As his mother watched him with a sense of relief, she shared her thoughts about the “terrible” incident and expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the beach heroes who rescued them.
Karolina, Eddie and dad Krzysztof, 38, were enjoying a family day out at the beach before the horrendous incident unfolded.
“Eddie was excited to go to Smyths to use his birthday vouchers, and also to see Transformers in the cinema,” Karolina, an NHS support worker, explained.
“We were at Codona’s and then we stopped over to see the waves at the beach.
“Eddie just got over-excited, and he jumped on the fence on the pavilion. Because he had his backpack on, when he jumped he flipped over from the weight of whatever was in there.
“There was only seconds between him flipping over and onto the beach. I was only a few steps away, but there was just no time to react, or to stop him – there was no way.”
As Karolina watched her little boy be washed out to sea, there was no question she would jump in after him.
“I could see the dangers of the storm – I thought ‘he won’t make it’,” she said.
“My mum brain went off and I was thinking that I didn’t want him to die alone. So, I just went for it.
“Even with the tiny waves you could feel the power of the sea – you could hardly move. The water felt like it was sucking you towards the ground.
“I grabbed him as tightly as I could, and tried to lift him above the water to try and give him enough time to breath so that he might survive.
“But we got separated by the water and, at that moment, I felt like that I was losing my strength. I thought ‘that’s us done’.
“So I just lay back to conserve my energy so that maybe I could go back to swimming. But with waves like that I just couldn’t, it was wild.
“The water covered me and I lost sight of him and I was slowly losing my strength, and my muscles gave up. I thought I was going to die.
“A part of me thought, ‘why is it talking so long to be dead?’. For me this felt like hours.
“I just assumed that if I’m barely alive and losing my strength then Eddie is probably not alive. That thought just wasn’t worth thinking about.”
Heroes rescued Aberdeen mum and son from water
Karolina re-awakened to find a ‘bare-chested man in jeans’ pulling her from the water.
Her first thought was of Eddie – and there was “great relief” on finding out he was safe on land.
“I wasn’t relieved I had been saved at first. I was just so worried about Eddie, I wasn’t sure if I’d see my son ever again,” she said.
“But when I was told he was breathing again – oh my God. The relief was huge.”
All three family members were rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where Eddie was kept in for three days after “taking on a lot of water”.
Karolina says she “doesn’t have the words” to thank the heroes who saved their lives.
We previously reported of the members of the public who helped that day, with one saying: “It was the worst thing I had ever experienced. It was terrifying.”
“I am so grateful for those people who risked their life for me. I wish I could hug them,” said Karolina.
“The man who pulled me out, and the lady who patted Eddie on the back – I have no words for how thankful I am.
“If not for them, my son would not be here in front of me.”
The young boy is now on the mend recovering from a “minor cold,” while mum Karolina was discharged from hospital on the night of the incident.
Both parents are back at work, while Eddie prepares for a return to school next week.
Hateful ‘keyboard warriors’ branded a ‘disgrace’ after Aberdeen beach incident
Karolina also hit out at “keyboard warriors” who left “disgraceful comments” in the wake of their traumatic incident.
She added: “I read a comment saying that I should pay back the emergency services for taking my son out in the weather warning.
“I work in the NHS, I’m training to be a nurse and I served as a paramedic back in Poland.
“It’s a disgrace to say anything like that to someone – this was an accident. This wasn’t me drunk driving or something like that.
“I would just ask people to be more understanding. It was so hard to read that stuff while Eddie was still recovering.”
Conversation