London has hailed as hero a man who died after jumping into the Thames to save a drowning woman who had fallen from the famous London Bridge.
A LONDON man is now being hailed as a hero after he sacrificed his life trying to save a woman who fell off into the River Thames last Saturday (April 24).
Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, known as Jimi, was walking with his friend Bernard Kosia when they were approached by two men who showed them a video of a woman “jumping over the London Bridge.”
He said they called 999 when they heard a woman shouting “I’m dying, I’m dying” but could not see anything because it was “pitch black.”
Jimi didn’t hesitate and, along with an unidentified Good Samaritan, immediately jumped into the river to help save the woman.
"Instantly Jimi looked at me and I said, 'all right, we can look for her'. But we couldn't see her, it was pitch black,” Bernard later told media.
“Jimi was adamant, for some reason that he didn’t care [about himself]. He did not think twice as to what was going to happen. I just remember him saying, ‘Bernard, I have to save her, I’m going to save her.’”
Rescue workers saved both the woman and the other man who jumped into the river, but it took six hours until Jimi’s body was found in the river.
“Jimi means a lot to everyone. Especially around south London now, everyone knows him as a neighborhood hero. To risk your life in such a way, you don’t see that every day. And the fact that he was adamant to save that woman, it just shows his nature and his mindset,” Bernard added.
Jimi’s parents, Michael Adewola and Olasunkanmi Adewole, wept as they paid tribute to their son.
Adewola called for his son to be awarded a posthumous George Cross for bravery.
He told Good Morning Britain: “I want the government to honor him because Jimi was a good soul to me. I want the government to do something … so that his name cannot vanish forever.”
Describing his son as “the breadwinner of the house”, he said he was “always taking care of me and my wife and his friends.”
He thanked all those who have supported a GoFundMe page set up to help the family, which has so far raised more than £88,000. (RdlC)
Tags: #GreatBritain, #heroism, #RiverThames