VOLUNTEERS have been hailed heroes by a teenager and his grandmother for a dramatic water rescue.

Kavan Collins, 15, climbed down a ladder into a boat to retrieve his dog Cody who had jumped off a wall into the water at Connah’s Quay shortly before 4pm on Sunday.

Although he was able to retrieve Cody as they both landed on a boat, Kavan was unable to climb back up the ladder with his pet and was left stranded.

His quick-thinking grandmother Terri Collins, who Kavan lives with on North Street in Shotton, was with him that afternoon walking springer spaniel Cody and black labrador Snoop. She raised the alarm and the lifeboat was launched at the Ski Club in Connah’s Quay.

Within 20 minutes Kavan had a life jacket, a blanket and had been returned to shore with Cody and given a medical check.

Ms Collins praised the swift reactions of the volunteers and described the traumatic experience of the dramatic afternoon.

She said: “We took the dogs for a walk which Kavan inherited from my brother in Scotland, who passed away earlier this year. He’s been given the task of looking after them and he loves them to bits.

“Cody literally bounded out of the car, straight over the wall and Kavan chased straight after, down the lock ladders and landed about 20 odd feet down, luckily on the boat next to the wall where Cody was trapped.

“I rang the coastguard and they must have been there in less than 20 minutes, eight to 10 of them.

“These guys must have dropped everything. It was a cold, dark afternoon, heavy rain, the week before Christmas, and rather than being out shopping with their families or at the cinema, they were out helping us.

“We will go to see them this week with some chocolates and flowers and I will make a donation too.

“What they do is so important, they are volunteers, people take it for granted that they are there. We certainly don’t.”

She added: “It’s a miracle Kavan’s alright given the scale of that drop and that he landed where the boat was.

“It’s something we can laugh about now but I was still shaking on Monday, it was frightening.”

Kavan also thanked the RNLI crew for their heroics and said he had learned from the experience.

“I didn’t think, I just wanted to get to the dog,” he said.

“I was surprised by the drop and it was a massive relief when I got back up.”

Lifeboat operation manager Alan Forrester also heaped praise on the volunteers.

He said: “We had a great crew turn out and I can’t praise them enough.

“They were very professional and the boy and dog were both fine.”