A DROWNING woman who was pulled from a pond has hailed her rescuer a life-saver.
Heroic Michael Kane, of Within Grove, Huncoat, was walking home from a night out with friends when he heard screams coming from the site of the new Honeycomb Heath estate, off Lynwood Road.
Student Joanne Harris, 22, had slipped into a 6ft-deep pond and was losing her battle to get out.
Joanne, who lives in Huncoat, said: "It all happened so quickly. A big ditch had filled with rainwater and was surprisingly deep. I would say Michael saved my life and was very courageous to get me out like that.
"It was absolutely freezing. But he managed to jump in and lift me up out of the water. I was really in shock.
"I can't praise him highly enough for acting so quickly and bravely, because I don't know if I could have got myself out. I'd only had a few drinks beforehand but it could have ended disastrously."
Mr Kane, 37, was walking home at 11pm on Monday along a public footpath that runs through the housing development.
Reliving the rescue, the Senator International employee said: "I heard the screams and ran about 400 metres towards her. I couldn't call the ambulance because like my clothes my mobile phone was soaked with water. I was really worried about leaving her but I ran to a friend's house and got him to call the ambulance.
"When it came they wouldn't let me go with Joanne, but my wife Julie drove me to Blackburn Royal Infirmary to make sure she was okay.
"The hole she fell in had been intentionally created by the housing developers to put cables in. I told them on Saturday that it was dangerous and should be fenced off. But they only fenced it off the day after the accident. And now they've filled the pond in. If a kiddie had fallen in, it could all have been far sadder."
A spokesman for the Woodford Group, which is responsible for work on the former brickworks site, said the incident was being taken "very seriously".
He said: "We are undertaking a full investigation in keeping with our policy for the health and safety of our staff and general public."
Miss Harris was released from hospital without any serious injuries in the early hours of Tuesday.
