Praise for ski hero school pupils

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Three high school pupils have been praised for their quick actions in helping a seriously injured skier.

Alex Wilson, Jamie Henry, and Bruce Coull, who are all 16, were on a school trip in France when their ski instructor fell.

The Frenchman fractured his hip and collar bone and broke his teeth.

But the boys from Crieff High managed to protect him from oncoming skiers, keep him warm, bring him back to consciousness and get help.

Alex managed to get medics to the Les Deux Alpes resort.

He said: "As soon as he went off the jump we knew something was wrong, because his body just lop-sided and we just saw him drop upside down.

"So we skied down to see if he was all right and he was unconscious, and he was bleeding from the head and his skis were scattered everywhere."

It's heart-warming to see that they can behave calmly, responsibly and confidently in an emergency crisis situation Christine RossCrieff High head teacher

Jamie used their skis to fence off the area around the injured instructor.

He told the BBC Scotland News website: "I was shocked because he was a brilliant skier, you just didn't expect someone of that quality, for something like that to happen to him."

Bruce kept the instructor warm and helped him regain consciousness.

He said: "When we saw the [snow] boarders, even English-speaking people, that were going past us and not helping at all we just thought we needed to close off the junction so that no other damage came to him.

"And he was unconscious so we were trying to talk to him and wake him up.

'Behave calmly'

"We could see that he didn't have his gloves on, they'd come off, so we just had to keep him warm."

The boys' actions have been praised by Crieff High head teacher, Christine Ross, who said she was immensely proud.

"We try to encourage our young people to be confident and responsible," Ms Ross said.

"It's heart-warming to see that they can behave calmly, responsibly and confidently in an emergency crisis situation."

The pupils have been described as "heroes", and they are starting to get used to the attention.

Jamie said: "I wasn't really expecting it at first, but then I'm obviously quite liking it."