A Lagos PSP agent braved the icy waters near Lagos Marina on Saturday to save an English woman intent on suicide. Despite her pleas to him to let her die, José Cascão dived into the water and grappled her to safety.
“She pleaded with me twice to let her die and I answered in English, trying to calm her down. She tried to break free from me, but as her clothes were on, it was easy to hold on,” he told noticiasaominuto.
Cascão explained “the cold, lack of sunlight and current” at play could otherwise have seen the woman “disappear very fast”.
The incident happened at 7pm near the BP petrol station on the town’s main avenue, opposite the marina.
The woman was seen first by a group of people who alerted police.
She did not respond to anyone’s calls to her, in either English or Portuguese.
Suffering from hypothermia, the woman was taken to Lagos hospital where she was diagnosed with depression. She was discharged on Sunday.
According to notíciasaominuto, Agent Cascão has worked in Lagos since 2003 but “never faced a situation like this before”, though he rescued somebody from drowning when he was younger and off-duty in Costa da Caparica, he said.
The woman’s husband has since visited Lagos’ PSP police station to thank Cascão for saving his wife’s life.
