Tributes to ferry disaster heroine

Kerry Griffiths had an emotional reunion with the man she saved

Tributes have been paid to a nurse who lives in Swansea who saved the life of a man who lost both legs in the New York ferry disaster.

Kerry Griffiths, 34, comforted Paul Esposito, 24, who was lying in agony after the Staten Island ferry slammed into a pier on Wednesday, killing 10 people and injuring 34 others.

The nurse, who works at Swansea's Sancta Maria Hospital, also helped stem the blood flow with a belt and used her Gap sweater to cover Mr Esposito's legs.

Ms Griffiths then protected his face from debris flung by the strong winds.

Now the mayor of Swansea Lawrence Bailey plans to write to the brave nurse to congratulate her on her humanitarian action.

Maggie Crawford, the matron at Sancta Maria Hospital, paid tribute to her.

She told BBC News Online: "Kerry would not put herself first in a situation like that but would react to any emergency and give all the assistance she could.

"Obviously it must have been a very traumatic time for everybody concerned but Kerry wouldn't think of herself but would think immediately of what could she do to help - that is part of her nature.

She kept telling me, 'Stay with me, don't leave, stay with me' Paul Esposito, the man Kerry Griffiths saved

"She is an exceptional person, very professional and if I was ill I'd want Kerry to look after me."

Doctors said if Mr Esposito had not received medical help from Ms Griffiths he would have become the 11th fatality of the crash.

And on Friday, Ms Griffiths, who is on holiday in the United States, had an emotional reunion with Mr Esposito after responding to the New Yorker newspaper's appeal to find the "angel" who had answered his cries for help.

She said she had told Mr Esposito: "You have to concentrate on staying alive."

Mr Esposito, a waiter who lives with his parents on Staten Island, said: "She kept telling me, 'Stay with me, don't leave, stay with me'.

"I asked how my legs looked and she responded, 'It's OK, you're going to start a new life.'

"There were dead people in every direction around me," he told the New York Times.

The ferry carrying 1,500 people was at full speed when concrete pillars tore through the vessel.

An investigation into the disaster is now underway.