TURKISH chefs have relived the “unbelievable” moment they saved the life of a woman found hanging in Lower Earley.

Mustafa Tahirov sprang into action after he spotted the woman hanging from a tree in Carnival Field on Tuesday, July 15.

Speaking to the Chronicle days after the terrifying rescue, Mr Tahirov, who works in the Toscana restaurant opposite the field, said he was having a break from work on the restaurant terrace when he saw the woman, before sprinting into the kitchen to alert his colleagues Mustafa Aygan and Levent Alacuklu.

Mr Alacuklu told the Chronicle: “He said 'Levent! Levent! There’s a woman hanging herself!’.

“We didn’t think, we all just ran out. I was a bit scared to touch her. Her face was all blue – we thought she had died.

“I grabbed her legs and Mustafa [Aygan] took the body, and we laid her down. We had a knife to cut her down but didn’t need it because her head went through the loop. I then touched her neck to see if she was alive and she blinked.

“There was a lot of people and children in the playground. There was even a woman on the phone.”

The chefs called the emergency services and police confirmed they were sent to an incident at 3.50pm. A statement read: “We were called following reports of a fear for life.

“A woman was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and then retained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.”

South Central Ambulance Service spokeswoman Catherine Morrow confirmed the woman, whose identity is unknown, was taken to hospital by road ambulance.

Mr Alacuklu told the Chronicle: “It was an unbelievable day. It didn’t matter who it was. It could have been anyone.

“Sometimes her face comes to me. We are all away from our families and you think about them when something like this happens.

“We all have problems in this world. We don’t want a thank-you – we did what any human should do.”