Swimming lessons may have saved a two-year-old boy from drowning after he was caught in a stormwater drain at Tuggeranong in the ACT.
Members of the public pulled the cold and injured boy from a pool in the drainway at about 7.30pm on Saturday after he was swept over three water drops about 500 metres from his home.
Ambulance paramedics arrived and immediately treated the boy for hypothermia as well as bumps and bruises before taking him to Canberra Hospital in a stable condition.
ACT Ambulance Service duty officer Chris Barry said "it could have turned out tragically for him".
"It appeared he was using some sort of swimming stroke to maintain flotation."
Bystanders told paramedics the boy had recently had swimming lessons.
Mr Barry said efforts across the country to "drownproof children" were important as every summer there were tragic cases of children dying in in the water.
The boy appeared to have wandered from his home on Saturday evening.
