A TEENAGER who almost drowned while swimming in a Bolton lodge is urging other youngsters to steer clear of waterways.

Mark Whyte was rescued by a teacher walking his dog around Doffcocker Lodge when he got into difficulties after his legs seized up with cramp.

And today, recovering after his rescue from the murky reservoir, the teenager confessed: "It was stupid to go swimming in such a place.

"I'll never do it again."

The 19-year-old revealed he had been in the water just a matter of minutes when his limbs and chest began to tighten with the cold.

The teenager, who is in Bolton on holiday from Aberdeen, Scotland, began to panic and shouted for help as his arms also stopped working, and he sank below the surface of the freezing lodge.

His lungs began to fill with water, and the teenager said he feared that he was going to die, before teacher Ian Allt plunged into the water to pull him to safety.

Mr Allt, from Heaton, had been alerted by the teenager's younger brother, who had remained at the side of the reservoir as he could not swim.

The teenager, who is staying with his mother in Hawker Avenue, Great Lever, said he had not realised the water would be so cold as the weather had been warm.

He said: "I was trying to catch up with my friend who was ahead of me, but the water was so cold that my chest and legs began to stiffen and I was hyperventilating.

"I was terrified and felt myself going under as I screamed for help. Drowning is my worst fear, but as I went below the surface I accepted in my mind that I was as good as dead.

"I couldn't breathe and stopped struggling as the current took hold of me.

"Then I felt a hand yank me up to the surface.

"Mr Allt pulled me out of the water and I was being sick everywhere out of sheer terror because of what had happened.

"I honestly thought it was the end of me."

He is now warning others not to put their lives at risk, and says he will never swim in unsupervised waters again.

He said: "It was stupid and I will tell anyone the same.

"The waters might look warm in the summer, but they're definitely not.

"If Mr Allt had not been there my family would be planning my funeral now. "