A mother and daughter have described the moment they pulled a teenager to safety who was attempting to take her own life. 

Neetal Parekh says she was alerted to the situation after being called by her mum, magistrate and teacher Kailash, to Cop Lane bridge in Penwortham, Preston.

She said a young girl who looked around 13 to 14 was in a distressed sate.

Neetal said: “My mum just happened to walk past and see this absolutely distressed girl shaking and crying. My mum just asked if she was ‘okay’.”

The incident happened at around 2pm yesterday (Monday October 10) when Neetal said she got a call from her mum asking for help and as she arrived she joined her mum in pulling the teenager away from the bridge.

Neetal said: “I literally ran and held her but she was adamant to jump.

“Just then a policeman arrived and carried out whatever procedure he needed to. By this time the young girl was just numb.”

Mum Kailash added: “This was the most frightening and horrific situation to witness. This little girl is someone’s daughter, just imagine what could have happened.”

Neetal said she was concerned that people had walked past without asking if the teenager was okay.

She said: “What hurts the most is that people actually walked past this vulnerable girl despite her obviously being distressed.

“How can anyone ignore someone who is evidently screaming for help!

“In a situation like this, our natural instinct was to help and prevent her from jumping - what do the police advise? Are people afraid that they may get in trouble for helping?

“I’m proud of my mother for being a human and doing the basic thing of asking someone if they are simply ‘okay’.”

Police said the incident was reported to as ‘a concern for safety around’ at 2.10pm yesterday.

Officers attended and the person was later taken to hospital for treatment.