A SCHOOLGIRL has been hailed a hero after she saved a four-year-old from drowning on a family holiday.

Lydia Whitehead, 11, dragged the boy from the swimming pool of a hotel in Ibiza, after spotting him floating face down in the water.

The boy was unconscious, so she flipped him onto his back and dragged him to the shallow end before shouting to her mother, Diane, for help.

The pair then called for assistance and got the boy out of the pool as the lifeguards arrived.

Mrs Whitehead, 44, of Dunholm Close, Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, said: "We were later told that if he'd been in there for just a minute longer, he wouldn't have pulled through.

"I'm just so pleased Lydia is such a strong swimmer.

"The holiday rep told her she was an inspiration."

The Whitehead family, including father Paul, 46, and Lydia's brother, David, 13, were enjoying the last day of their two-week holiday in Playa D'en Bossa.

Mrs Whitehead, who works in a job centre, had been relaxing in the hotel pool with Lydia, a pupil at Bernard Gilpin School, Houghton-le-Spring, when they realised something was wrong.

Mrs Whitehead said: "At first, I just thought the boy was looking down into the pool, but it was Lydia who realised straight away that there was something wrong. We were out of our depth when Lydia tried to lift the little boy's head."

Getting no reaction, Lydia quickly realised the youngster, who was on holiday with his mother, grandmother and twoyear- old brother, was not conscious, and with the help of her mother, pulled him to safety.

The boy, understood to be from the Hertfordshire area, was taken to hospital.

It is thought he had been eating ice cream in the sunshine prior to getting in the pool and suffered a temperature reaction.

The Whiteheads flew back to the North-East on Thursday, only 12 hours after the incident.

Mr Whitehead said: "We were all distraught about what happened, but they did seem to think the boy was going to recover.

"Everyone is so proud of what Lydia did and she was given a certificate for bravery by the hotel rep."