EXCLUSIVE: 3 East Bay teens save drowning woman's life

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- The near-death experience happened Tuesday night at the Summer House Apartments in Alameda - which is now home to three young heroes.

That's the reputation Jessica Buyanjargal, Kristine Bakhad and George Batochir have earned for their actions Tuesday.

The friends were exercising near the pool around 9 p.m. when they heard a man call for help.

"There was this woman on the bottom of the pool," said Jessica Buyanjargal. "She wasn't moving, she was unconscious."

The woman was deep in 8 feet of water and it was difficult for anyone to get to her.

"I dived into the pool but it was so hard because she was all the way under the pool," recalled George Batochir.

So the teens decided to team up and create a human chain.

"We all held hands, we pulled her together," said Buyanjargal.

"Jessica got her up, then all three of us, we helped her go on the side of the pool," said Kristine Bakhad.

Once the woman was out of the pool, she was given CPR and gained consciousness. But she inhaled too much water and had to be taken to Alameda Hospital.

The teens went to visit their new friend Zulaa Amgalam, 24, as she recovered in the hospital.

"She was very grateful, we brought her flowers. It was emotional," said Buyanjargal.

After four days recovering, Amgalam finally came home Friday saying she was grateful through an interpreter.

She's especially thankful for her three young guardians.

"I was pretty proud of ourselves because we're only 13, 14 years old. I don't think anyone else would have done it," said Bakhad.

Two lessons learned here: stay away from deep water if you're not a good swimmer and no one is ever too young to be someone's hero.