A DOG walker turned hero when he saved the life of a six-year-old boy who had fallen into Gartmorn Dam.

Jim McGillivray (55) was with his friend Davie Brown at the country park when they heard screams coming from a group of children playing near the reservoir’s sluice gate.

They arrived to find one of the children floating face down in the water among the reeds and debris.

Jim and another passer-by, known locally as Sandy Dowell, jumped in and dragged the boy to safety. The pair performed CPR until the ambulance arrived.

Sauchie grandfather, Jim, said, “Me and Davie go for walks up the Dam every night. As we got out the van we heard kids screaming and playing about. We walked about 20 yards and the screams changed and we knew something was up. One of the kids was shouting ‘he’s drowning’.” Jim spotted his nephew, Scott McKay, who was out jogging with Sandy, and they ran to help.

When they got there two teenage girls had already tried and failed a rescue attempt.

Jim said, “Sandy jumped in to the water and I jumped in at the back of him. Scott threw in a lifebuoy. The wee boy was lying face down in the water. He was life-less, just gone. Sandy grabbed the wee laddie and we lifted him on to the concrete plinth. He was pure blue when we got him out.

“As quick as we had him on the concrete Sandy was around the front of him giving chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. I was pushing his stomach. The poor wee boy took a good beating off us but it got him going again.” The youngster – who is believed to be called Ryan – was taken to Forth Valley Royal Hospital and has since made a full recovery.

It is thought he fell from the green bridge above the sluice gates while trying to jump from one embankment to the other.

Jim, who is a carer for his son, admitted that the life-saving incident last Monday (1 September) evening had left him “in bits” with shock.

He said, “I’m 55 and I’ve grand-bairns. It was like you’ve got your own bairn in your hands – you don’t want to let them go. It was frantic and it felt like forever. The boy vomited and I asked him his name and he whispered what I thought was Brian – turned out it was Ryan. I knew then that he was going to be fine.” A spokesman for Police Scotland said, “Police Scotland can confirm that officers attended at Gartmorn Dam in Sauchie, Alloa, at around 7.25pm on Monday 1 September following a report of concern for a six-year-old boy who had fallen into water. They boy was transferred to Forth Valley Royal Hospital.”