Bradford hero meets man whose life he saved in Blackpool

Shahid Parvez, 37, of Bradford, was on a family day out at Blackpool beach when he dived into to the sea, pulled 33-year-old Murtaza Ulhassan to the shore and performed life-saving CPR on July 11.

A grateful Murtaza, his wife, two young children, father and mother, travelled from Bolton on Friday and met Shahid outside Cartwright Hall in Lister Park.

Shahid Parvez shares an emotional embrace with the grateful father of Murtaza Ulhassan (Image: Newsquest)

The two men shared an emotional embrace, and Murtaza's grateful father also warmly embraced the man who saved his son, as tears flowed.

"You risked your own life to save me," Murtaza told Shahid. "All the credit goes to you. Allah chose you."

"This has changed my life, to be honest," Murtaza also said to Shahid. "It's a miracle."

Shahid Parvez embrace Murtaza Ulhassan, whose life was saved at Blackpool

While the two men were speaking, Murtaza's father told the T&A: "I'm very grateful. He's my little son. When he came from Pakistan, he was a student."

"Imagine what would have happened to my family if I would have died," said Murtaza, who has eight brothers.

"This incident would have devastated them for the rest of their lives.

"I was on the steps and then I went in the water. I didn't think it was that deep.

"I tried to swim, but I couldn't. I tried to walk back to shore but it was too deep.

"Then I lost consciousness and I don't remember anything until I woke up in the ambulance."

In between those lost memories, Shahid reacted quickly to the cries for help from Murtaza's family.

Shahid Parvez meets the family of Murtaza Ulhassan (Image: Newsquest)

"We could have both drowned but that's the chance I took," he said.

"Your heart takes over when there's a life to save.

"I was nervous but I had to try to save him. Onlookers directed me to him and I found him lifeless in the water.

"I put him over my shoulder and swam back to safety.

"When out of the water, I put him in a recovery position and performed CPR.

"He was coughing up blood and water. It was very scary."

Once he was revived, Shahid kept talking to him and waited until the ambulance service arrived.

Murtaza was so grateful for Shahid's help and said if he'd had to wait for the emergency services to arrive, he might have died.

"It was clearly natural instinct for a brave person like him," said Murtaza.

"He's a real living hero and a role model for us to learn from.

"The emergency services take time to arrive and I didn't have that much time.

"I could have expired.

Shahid Parvez and Murtaza Ulhassan (Image: Newsquest)

"I thanked God that he was in the right place at the right time."

Although Murtaza said he received brilliant care from the ambulance service and hospital, his recovery was not straightforward.

"They were losing hope for me. I spent a week in hospital and had to be treated for a lung infection because of the nature of the water."

Although he still has follow-up treatment to come, Murtaza intends to move forward with his life with a new sense of purpose.

He said: "Life can be taken away at any time. You don't realise until you have an experience like this.

"It's a miracle that I'm with my wife and children again.

"It's given me a purpose. I'm going to work to promote first aid awareness and swimming to save more lives.

"Shahid gave me the first aid that I desperately needed. It could have been too late for me if I'd been in the water a minute longer.

"There are so many things to learn from this one experience.

"At least one person in every household, if not all, should have this first aid skill.

"People do collapse and it's so important to learn basic CPR."

Shahid, a security door supervisor, learned CPR because of his job.

Murtaza said he has written to the Security Industrial Authority, who provided the training for Shahid, to recommend him for a medal or certificate.

Murtaza said: "He was the right guy, with the right set of skills and he used them successfully."

Shahid said his survival swimming training from his school days and the CPR course served him well.

He said: "It was destiny that I was in the right place at the right time."