A TEENAGE cadet is calling on schools to teach basic first aid after she saved another girl from choking.

Quick-thinking Molly Fraser, used skills she had learnt at Colchester Sea Cadets to save the girl.

The 15-year-old, of McCluskeys Street, in Colchester, was walking past Colchester Rugby Club with a friend at about 9.30pm when a girl she knew rushed over.

Molly said: “One of the girls ran over to me and said: ‘You’re a sea cadet, can you help? someone is unconscious.’

“When I went over she was choking, she had a pulse but I couldn’t hear anything.

“I didn’t really panic. I just wanted to make sure she was OK.

“Everyone was really upset but I just tried to keep calm.”

Molly cleared the girl’s airway, performed CPR and called for an ambulance, before placing the unconscious teenager in the recovery position.

Her skills were praised by paramedics who said her actions could have saved the girl’s life.

Molly added: “We learnt first aid at the unit which is how I knew what to do. “Sea Cadets has helped me with other things, too, including communication and information systems as I study computer science at school.

“It has also helped me with my confidence and with making friends.”

The girl was taken to Colchester General Hospital and has now made a full recovery.

Molly said: “She’s OK now. She bought me a present and said: ‘Thank you so much, I will never forget what you did.’”

The cadet is keen to promote the importance of learning first aid and said she would like it to be taught in school so other young people would know what to do if such a situation arises.

Molly said she would not have known what to do if it was not for the training she learnt at sea cadet.

The lifesaver is also part of Teen Speech, a group which visited Parliament last year to raise awareness of issues facing young people, including first aid training.

Molly’s mum, Maxiene, said: “I am so proud of her, I don’t know how she did it and kept so calm.

“I think she was in shock afterwards as the whole thing hit her.

“She really wants to raise awareness of schools teaching basic first aid.”

Cadets can earn nationally-recognised qualifications in many areas including first aid and boating.

For more information, visit sea-cadets.org/colchester.