SpongeBob inspired 8-yr-old US boy to save drowning neighbour

Melbourne, June 14 (ANI): An eight-year-old New Jersey boy, who rescued his five-year-old neighbour from drowning, has revealed that he used a technique from kids cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants to save him.

According to the Daily Record, the incident had taken place when Andrew Gentile's mother allowed him to enter what she thought was a shallow part of a manmade lake in Washington Township, just 2m from the shore.

But when Andrew could not touch bottom he began to struggle.

To make matters worse, his mother, Shirley, also panicked when she couldn't feel the lake's floor after jumping in to save her son.

Reese Ronceray, seeing Andrew struggling from the shore, swam out to help his friend.

He grabbed Andrew, mimicking what he saw on an episode of the cartoon, and pulled him to safety.

"I said 'thank you, thank you, thank you'. I was so grateful. He was an angel to me," the Courier Mail quoted Gentile as saying.

Reese's elementary school held a Reese Ronceray Day to honour his rescue of Andrew.

His mother, Anne Ronceray, said the mayor plans to recognise her son's actions. (ANI)