An ‘academic family’ consisting of 7 St Andrews students helped rescue a drowning woman on Raisin Sunday, 28 October.

The students went to East Sands at 7.15am for an early morning dip.

They were approached by a dog walker who saw the woman in difficulty in the water near the pier.

The students, Hannah Cope, Min Kim, Rachel Mansley, David Juhasz, Michael Helley, Rebecca Hjemdahl and Jack Somerville, with little hesitation or concern for themselves ran into the icy waters of the North Sea to help the drowning woman who was barely moving.

Hannah Cope, a first year Sustainable Development student from New York and a member of the University swimming team, was the first one to reach the woman and managed to pull her back to shore.

Other members of the group, some of which were students of the School of Medicine, started first aid procedures immediately. They resuscitated and wrapped the woman in their clothes and towels to keep her warm.

According to Cope, the woman was “unresponsive, barely breathing and hypothermic”, and they “were doing everything they could to keep her warm until the paramedics could get there.”

The paramedics soon arrived and stabilised her condition, after which she was admitted to hospital in Dundee.

The academic mother of the family, Min Kim, said: “Everyone was really brave and stayed composed as we tried to keep her conscious and waited for the paramedics. I’m glad we were able to help her.”

Speaking on behalf of the students, she added: “We’ve all been thinking about her and wondering how she is and hoping that she is OK. Our thoughts are with her and her husband.”

According to the students, no one else was on the beach at that time. The lady is now recovering in a hospital in Dundee.