Schoolgirls save woman, 76, from drowning

A group of quick-thinking Melbourne schoolgirls have risked their own lives to save an elderly woman who was drowning in Melbourne's Yarra River.

Clarissa Ryan, Lucy Ackroyd and Lucre Moscardo leapt to the 76-year-old woman's rescue when they saw her trip and fall into the Yarra River on the opposite bank.

The 16-year-old Melbourne Girls' College pupils raced across a bridge and down the bank to assist the woman who was lying face down in the water.

In a combined effort, the teenagers managed to pull the elderly woman to dry land, but she was struggling to breathe.

"She was blue in the face and her breathing was really shallow. She was gurgling. I was so scared, but we held it together," Lucy told Seven News reporter Nick McCallum

The teenagers administered first aid they had learned at school until police arrived.

"It was just shock and the realisation that if we weren't there she could have died," Clarissa added. "Fate has worked that we were in the right place at the right time."

The elderly woman is now in the Alfred Hospital in a stable condition.

It is believed she has no family and is a nursing home resident.

Now the self-confessed trouble makers will be nominated for a bravery award.

"They have done a fantastic job," said Inspector Steve Frost. "They have basically saved her life, there's no doubt about it."