A 90-year-old man from Rotterdam is being hailed as a hero after rescuing a 19-year-old woman from the Maas river on Tuesday afternoon.

The man, named as Jaap Koppers, was out fishing when he heard a splash and a scream. Without hesitating, he jumped in to save the woman after she fell from a boat mooring, local broadcaster RTV Rijnmond reported.

Despite the strong current, the man and a friend managed to get her to safety, the report said. Both were unharmed but given a hospital check-up.

‘It was my duty,’ Koppers told the broadcaster. ‘Some people freeze with shock when something like this happens but not me. I would do the same thing again. But it was just as well she was not too fat.’