Canadian groom saves drowning boy on wedding day

A quick-thinking Canadian groom has made international headlines after he saved a young boy from drowning while taking his wedding photos.

Clayton and Brittany Cook were posing for their wedding photographer on a park bridge in Cambridge, Ontario when the groom noticed a child in distress in the water below.

“For several minutes these kids were following us, and I was just keeping an eye on them because they were standing close to the water,” Clayton Cook told the BBC.

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“Then while Brittany was getting her solo shots taken I realised only two were standing on the rock ledge.”

“I saw the boy in the water struggling to keep his head up. That's when I jumped down. I just kind of plucked him out and he was okay.”

Brittany Cook said she originally thought he had jumped in the water as a joke. But she added that her husband’s selfless actions and quick thinking were just some of many reasons she fell in love with him.

“That's Clay to me… It's something he would just instinctively do,” she told CTV.

The boy appeared to be okay and didn’t say a word after he was pulled out of the water, according to the couple. Eventually, an older sibling took him away.

Wedding photographer Darren Hatt said Clayton Cook's reaction was so quick, he barely had time to take the photos.

He wrote on Facebook: “By the time the bride noticed and shouted out, Clayton had already jumped down and brought him to safety.”

“A special shout out to last night's groom Clayton!” a caption on Hatt's Instagram read.

“His quick action saved the little guy who was struggling to swim. Well done sir!”