A New Zealander badly injured when he risked his life to save a drowning child in Indonesia earlier this year has been given a heroism award.
Richard Casagrande has been awarded the Red Cross Special Service Cross for saving the eight year old girl from drowning in the Buket Lawang River in Aceh in February, the British Red Cross said in a statement.
"This is the most selfless act I've heard of in my 46 years working here," said Red Cross board member Stan Fitches, who presented the medal, said.
"This award is given for distinguished service and I have only known it to be presented to two other people."
Mr Casagrande, a finance manager, was having a picnic with Chinese New Year revellers on a day off from his work on the Indonesia tsunami recovery programme when he saw the girl drowning.
"The girl was slightly downstream," he said.
"Nobody else seemed to have noticed her struggle. The adrenalin kicked in and I just leapt in."
He ran to the river's edge and jumped in, but landed awkwardly on a rock several metres below the surface and shattered both his heels. In great pain, he managed to reach the girl before she was pulled under by the current.
A crowd gathered at the edge of the river and took the girl from his arms.
In agony he was taken to the nearest hospital in Medan, three hours drive away. From there he was flown to Singapore, where he had a metal plate and 11 screws put into his right foot.
Mr Casagrande returned home to New Zealand to recover and spent several months in a wheelchair, but returned to Indonesia on crutches to finish his work.
He said, in a statement: "Receiving this award is a real honour. It's nice to have something to remember it by rather than just the pain in my feet!"
NZPA