CBNNews.com - A team of Israeli firemen, in France to practice rescue drills, wound up saving the life of a 10-year-old girl whose kayak overturned in the river's strong current.

Shortly after arriving at the Mieux River to perform a series of rescue drills in the fast-moving current, they saw some people kayaking.

"We were on the river bank preparing for water rescue," Oren Shishaski, one of the firemen recalled. "The current was strong, and families were paddling it in kayaks, one of which held a 10-year-old girl.

Suddenly, the child's kayak flipped over, and the river's current was carrying the overturned kayack toward jagged rocks along the riverbank.

With no time to lose, two of the fireman sprang into action.

"Two [of the men] immediately jumped in and swam to the overturned kayak," Shishaski said. "The kayak couldn't be righted so they dove under the water, released the girl and pulled her to the bank," he said.

Uninjured and happy to be safe, the child thanked her rescuers.

"She was surprised and wouldn't stop thanking us," he said.

The 10-year-old waited with the Israelis until her parents, who had to continue further down river, came back to retrieve their daughter.

Source: YNet news