A 13-year-old boy saved an infant from drowning at Marsalforn Bay this morning, eyewitnesses told The Malta Independent.

The boy, aged around 18 months, was with his grandmother when he dropped out of her arms and into the sea when the woman's leg got stuck in one of the ladders.

The ladder is not in a very good condition, eyewitnesses said. The grandmother had an inflatable float but hadn’t placed it round the infant's body at the time the accident happened.

A number of swimmers who were sunbathing at the time heard the grandmother’s frantic calls for help and rushed to help her. A 13-year-old boy who heard the screams quickly jumped into the sea to rescue the child, lifting it out of the water.

A woman administered first aid before the grandmother and infant were rushed to hospital for further treatment. The medical condition of the two is not known.

Life-guards were not present when the accident occurred since their shift starts at 11am and the accident happened at 10.45 a.m.

A spokesman for the Emergency Response and Rescue Corps told this newsroom that the unit was unaware of the incident since no lifeguards of theirs were on site when the incident happened.

The police had no knowledge about the accident.