Canadian Groom Interrupts Wedding Photo Shoot To Save Drowning Kid

A newly-married couple was posing for their wedding pictures Friday in Kitchener city in Ontario, Canada, when the groom suddenly noticed a child drowning in the river nearby and jumped into the water to save him.

Darren Hatt, the wedding photographer, who was shooting the groom, Clayton, and his wife Brittany Cook, captured the moment of heroism on camera and posted it on his Facebook page Saturday. The picture has been shared more than 800 times since the time it was posted.

“A special shout out to last night's groom Clayton!” Hatt captioned one of the pictures. “While I was taking solo pictures of the bride this little guy was pushed into the river behind me by another child. By the time the bride noticed and shouted out, Clayton had already jumped down and brought him to safety.”

The couple was posing in Victoria Park to immortalize their special day and neither Hatt nor Brittany realized that a young boy had fallen into the water and was struggling to swim. It was not until Clayton jumped into action that both of them realized what happened.

“It was my turn to get my solo pictures taken so Clay was hanging out by the pond waiting,” Brittany told Huffington Post. “We had three kids following us around [and] Clay noticed there were only two kids he could see... he walked over to check on them and noticed the kids looking at the water and one kid was struggling to swim, so Clay jumped down on a rock ledge closer to the water and pulled him out.”

Clayton had noticed some kids following him and his wife as they went around the park shooting at different places. At one point, he looked around and noticed one of the kids was missing. All the other kids were huddled near the water body and that gave Clayton a clue of what may have happened. He promptly jumped into the water and urged the small boy to grab hold of his hand.

“The kid was under water on his back. He ingested water and there was mucous coming out of his nose," Hatt was quoted as saying by Bustle. "It was scary. (The boy) was struggling. It could have gone unnoticed."

The bride said the kids might have been between six and eight years old and they might have failed to realize the severity of the situation. “They were playing — they thought it was a game, and the girl pushing him into the water," Brittany explained.

She also added that an older girl came to collect the small boy after he was rescued. Neither his parents nor his guardians were anywhere to be seen.

While the picture inspired social media users, some users expressed anger over the absence of kid's guardians at the scene. “Saw this on news last night and there was no mention of an adult with the child. Apparently, an older sibling came and got him later. WTF is wrong with people... a man saves the kid's life an NO ONE from the family says thanks,” one user wrote in the comments section below one of Hatt’s posts.

Another user wrote: “I really want to know where the parents were when this happened!? I certainly hope that Family and Children's Services track down this family and check up on the child and any other children in the home.”