A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl was rescued and brought back to life after falling into the deep end of a swimming pool during a holiday day trip.

Gemma Waddington was spotted unconscious in the water after going to look for her father, Barry, at the Waves fun complex in Blackburn.

Today he praised lifeguards Kath O'Brien and Heather Crane for saving his daughter's life.

Mr Waddington, of Lancaster Drive, Hapton, had been watching Gemma play with her two sisters in the shallow end of the pool before going to the toilet.

When he returned, he found his two older daughters -- Hayley, eight, and Louise, nine -- but there was no sign of little Gemma, a pupil at Padiham Primary School.

Mr Waddington, who is married to Jane, then spotted lifeguards surrounding a little girl at the edge of the pool, and realised it was his daughter.

He said: "By the time I got there, she was moving her eyes and breathing again but they had had to do a full resuscitation on her.

"I don't how she ended up in the deep end, she must have walked up and got into trouble or tried to look for me and fallen in.

"It was gone for just moments and in that time she had got into trouble, stopped breathing in the water, been pulled out by a lifeguard and given mouth-to-mouth.

"The doctors have said that had the lifeguards not been so quick to react, things could have been a lot more serious, which is something I really don't want to think about."

Lifeguard Kath spotted Gemma in difficulties in the water and dived in to rescue her before Heather gave her the kiss of like.

Kath said: "We saw she was in trouble and, to be honest, our training kicked in and we started to do our job.

"It was a team effort with all the staff here involved.

"It is great to know that Gemma is OK, and we were really touched to see her and her father today."

Gemma was taken by ambulance to Blackburn Royal Infirmary following the drama on Wednesday afternoon.

She was kept in overnight for observation and Mr Waddington took her straight back to the pool after she was released.

He said: "We gave them a box of chocolates and card to thank them for what they did. I was thanking them for saving my daughter's life.

"Gemma is bit quiet at the moment but we'll keep an eye on her and she should be OK in a couple of days. I was only gone for a couple of moments, I still can't believe it happened. We are very lucky and can't thank the staff at Waves enough."

Waves is run by Blackburn with Darwen Council, and has a policy of never letting children under the age of eight into the complex by themselves.

Coun Kate Hollern, executive member for leisure and culture at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Staff at Waves used all their training to carry out a text book resuscitation.

"Thanks to their efforts the youngster will make a full recovery.

"The staff kept their cool in a tense situation and a young life has been saved thanks to their efforts.

"Doctors and the parents of the girl have congratulated the staff for the way they reacted to this emergency and am delighted to be able to do to the same."