A Mount Hot Pools lifeguard says he 'was only just doing his job” when helping to save a two-year-old boy at the pools recently, who has now been discharged from hospital.

Claudio Abrao was on duty at about 10.45am last Wednesday, when he noticed a mother scrambling to get to her toddler, who had gone under the water.

A two-year-old boy was pulled, not breathing, from the children's pool at the Mount Hot Pools.

'While I was watching the pool I had noticed this family in the paddling pool. When I looked back, I noticed one of the children missing and thought ‘where are they?' At the same time I saw the mum start to run and I ran,” says Claudio.

The toddler's mother was tending to her other child, who was in the same pool less than 10 metres away, when the incident unfolded.

Claudio says everything happened so fast.

'Mum got to the little boy just before me and pulled him out of the water; he was unconscious.”

Claudio, who has worked at Mount Hot Pools for three years, took the boy from his mother's arms and placed him in the recovery position.

Another lifeguard brought Claudio a life-pack kit, enabling Claudio to give the toddler oxygen.

'I checked his airways, at which point he started coughing up water and became conscious, but his breathing was very laboured.”

Once stabilised, Claudio took the boy to the first aid room where he continued to monitor his airways, as he was still coughing up water, and kept giving him oxygen until an ambulance arrived.

Claudio says he remained confident and in control of the situation.

'I know what to do in an emergency situation and reacted accordingly. I was very relieved once we stabilised the boy; and then I knew he was going to be okay.

'After the incident I felt we had done everything we could. I do feel very proud of the role lifeguards play – we are there to keep people safe and take the right action if an emergency happens; that is our job, to keep people safe.”

Claudio, who is a volunteer of St John ambulance, would like to thank the organisation and its staff who helped with the rescue 'for all of their efforts”.

The boy was taken to Tauranga Hospital in a moderate condition before being transferred to Starship Hospital. He's since been discharged.