Twin's 'sixth sense' saves drowning sister

A teenage twin believes that her sixth sense helped her to save her sister's life as she was drowning in a bath.

Gemma Houghton, 15, said she had a "feeling" that her sister, Leanne, needed help and ran upstairs to check on her.

She found her lying lifeless and submerged under the water after suffering a fit in the bath and losing consciousness.

Pulling her from the water she used her first aid training to restart her breathing while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Paramedics said that her swift actions undoubtedly saved her sister's life.

The two girls were at home in Atherton, Greater Manchester, last month when Gemma grew unsettled about her sister, who had suffered fits in the past.

"I just got this feeling to check on her, so I went up to the bathroom and she was under the water," she said.

"At first I thought she was washing her hair or playing a trick.

"But when I lifted her head out of the water she had turned blue.

"I knew she had had a fit."

After getting her out of the water, she dialled 999 and put cardiopulmonary resuscitation training from a first aid course into action.

"She started making some horrible noises, like a truck, and I knew she was coming round," she recalled.

"Then she said she was going to be sick."

When an ambulance arrived a few moments later, she was already out of danger.

"By the time we arrived she was coming around after her sister had administered chest compressions," said Steve Pearson, a paramedic who attended the incident.

"It is quite simple, if Gemma hadn't have been there, Leanne would have died.

"She did an excellent job."

Leanne said: "If it was the other way around I don't think I'd have been able to have done it."

The sisters believe that first aid courses should now be made compulsory."

"What Gemma did was amazing, I have no idea how she did it," said their, mother Connie Hitchcock.

"I would probably have started crying."