Man forced to choose which brother to save from drowning in lake

‘This was the time I had to make the most difficult decision in my life,’ former lifeguard says

Bryxzel Galeon graduated from university three weeks before he drowned (Facebook)

A former lifeguard was forced to choose who to save after two brothers got into difficulties while swimming in a lake.

Yanek Kowal said he had to make “the most difficult decision in my life” when he was on holiday with his family at Howtown Bay in Ullswater, in the Lake District.

Mr Kowal, 65, noticed two people had got into difficulties while they were swimming to a pontoon so quickly dived in to help on Thursday.

He was able to save 18-year-old Ayxzel Galeon after the teenager’s brother Bryxzel, 21, pushed him towards Mr Kowal.

Mr Kowal said Bryxzel then “sank very quickly”.

“I could not get to him in time,” Mr Kowal said. “The other young man was starting to go under.

“This was the time I had to make the most difficult decision in my life. I decided to save the one just submerging.”

He said he swam towards Ayxzel “with caution” and attempted to drag him back to the shore, but that he “immediately rolled over and grabbed” Mr Kowal, causing the pair to struggle.

“This is the second time in my 65 years of life that I have thought I was going to drown,” said Mr Kowal, who works with the Swimming Teachers’ Association to train lifesaving and first aid.

He said a young woman also swam out to help but was nearly dragged under by the panicking Ayxzel.

He was able to separate them and then drag the teenager to the pontoon.

Emergency services then took the 18-year-old to hospital.

Divers pulled his brother’s body from the lake around six hours later.

Vincent Galeon, the brothers’ uncle, said his family “can’t thank [Mr Kowal] enough”.

He described Bryxzel as a young man with “big dreams” who had graduated in computer sciences from Leicester University three weeks before he died.

He told Teesside Live: ”This has been the most terrible tragedy that we could imagine in our family.

“Bryxzel’s family were there and they saw what happened, they are of course struggling with everything at the moment, he is a terrible loss to all of us.

“What Bryxzel did was to keep his brother Ayxzel afloat, he was holding him up whilst he himself was getting into more severe difficulty.

“It is through that, we think, that Mr Kowal was able to take hold of Ayxzel and get him to safety, he did the most remarkable thing.”