Heroic 13-year-old Hayley Truelove, of Lowerhouse Lane, Burnley, leapt into the river fully clothed when she noticed a teenage boy struggling to stay above the water at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Hayley and her family had only been at Edisford Bridge in Clitheroe for 10 minutes when the drama unfolded.

The Ribblesdale High School pupils told how she threw herself into the water when she heard cries for help. "At first it was really cold so it was hard to get my breath," said Hayley. "He was in the middle of the river so I had to swim out to him.

"When I got there I couldn't hold him up though because he was quite a bit bigger than me. I told him to grab onto my ankle and then I swam back to the rocks at the side before I helped pull him out."

While Hayley was pulling this boy out of the river, two men rescued another young man who got into trouble downstream after injuring his leg.

Hayley's mum, Paula, praised her daughter's courage. She said: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Everybody there thought the boys were just messing about and I didn't for one second think they were struggling. He was extremely lucky Hayley realised what was going on and was brave enough to jump in and rescue him.

"Sections of the river there are quite shallow but the bit Hayley was in was deep. The current was really strong as well and I could see she was getting dragged under it at some points.

"The two men that had got in further downstream to rescue the other lad were struggling with how strong the current was and they were grown men. She was so brave."

Neither of the boys suffered serious injuries and were taken home by their parents following the incident.