An 11-year-old boy was playing in the sand when he noticed something was buried. He quickly realized it was a little girl and began digging her out. Then he discovered the reason she was buried in the first place.

Connor Fitz-Gerald was playing in the sand with a group of other children at Marina Dunes, California, when he noticed something strange.

5-year-old Alyssa Bostic was trapped under a mound of sand when the cave she was digging collapsed on top of her. There were no other adults present to help the children.

The boy immediately leaped into action, digging her out and removing the sand from Bostic’s face. The girl was knocked out and had sand in her mouth, nose and eyes.

Luckily, Fitz-Gerald was able to perform CPR on Bostic, saving her life, according to Little Things.

“I was there by myself and I dug her out and performed CPR on her,” says Connor.

The 11-year-old had never even been trained in the procedure, but used what he knew from watching CPR on TV. Amazingly, it worked and Bostic came to.

“I am glad he was able to sit back and go, wait a minute something’s going on, there’s not a parent here, I know they’re at least a quarter mile away, I need to do something,” his father, Tim Fitz-Gerald, said.

Once adults saw what was happening, they immediately called 911.

The ambulance arrived later on and praised the 11-year-old boy, saying that if he hadn’t been there, the situation could have been fatal.

KSBW reports Fitz-Gerald was later awarded with the National Youth Hero Award from the American Legion.

“It’s one that our auxiliary has never rewarded before, so it’s a very special reward,” says Sherryl Panek, Auxiliary Children and Youth Chairman.

Bostic has since made a full recovery.

Source: KSBW