Brave Cape Town mother saves 6-year-old boy from drowning during floods

The family of a 6-year-old boy who was saved from a near-drowning incident in torrential rainfall by a brave Cape Town mother says they are grateful for her heroic act.

The video of little Tyler Cupido from Parkwood being rescued by mother of three, Yaseerah Nelson, 34, from Lotus River, after he slipped into a flooded street and was pinned underneath the water, went viral on social media on Wednesday.

Nelson, who is part of the Klip Neighbourhood Watch and Community in Blue, which works closely with police, and is also contracted by the City for overseeing dumping sites, told the Cape Argus she jumped into action when she realised the child was drowning.

It was a moment she will never forget.

“My colleagues and I were overseeing dumping sites in the area and we sought shelter at a resident's home under the garage when it started raining,” she said.

“We saw a boy in the road and he must have slipped due to the mud.

“At first we thought he was playing around and swimming because children sometimes do that in Cape Town when there is so much rain.

“But then I saw he was coming up and going down and I knew something was not right.

“I handed my cellphone and my bag to my colleague and went to help him.

“When I placed my hands into the water, I saw the bag and pulled at it and then when I saw his face, his eyes, it was dead still.

“I see a lot of things being part of the neighbourhood watch, I have been at crime scenes where there are bodies.

“I will never forget the look in his eyes.

“The bag was heavy and it was pulling him down and there was a plastic bag also over his neck and face and I immediately removed that.

“As I was moving around with him in the water, my colleagues shouted over to me because he was still in shock.”

Nelson said she and her colleagues did not hesitate to take off their warm and dry blankets to keep him warm and provide him with something to eat.

“It took about 15 minutes for him to speak as he was in a state of shock," she said.

“I started asking around for his family and at the school and we located his grandmother.”

Cupido's sister, Tarryn Adams, said they lost their mother a year ago and he now lives with his father and grandmother.

She said she was shocked to realise that the boy they had seen on the video was in fact her brother. 

“I am very grateful for this woman who saved him, if it was not for her, then I don’t know,” she said. 

“I am his older sister but he lives with his father after our mother passed away last year.

“He is fine and was checked medically.

“My aunt was looking at the video and we still said shame because the boy was just a baby.

“Then afterwards we got a photograph of him, saying that he is safe.

“We were so shocked because we did not know what happened."

Nelson met with Cupido and his family on Thursday at his home, who was very happy to see him.

She said he was in need of a size 12 school shoe following the incident.

The grandmother can be reached on 078 010 2037, if anyone wants to provide assistance to the family.

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Cape Argus