Pushed To The Side Of The Pool?

I live in the UK but this story happened when I was on holiday in 2001, aged 11, in Gran Canaria (a Spanish island off the Moroccan Coast).

Being 11 and it being summer, I remember spending a lot of time in the apartment complex outdoor pool. My parents bought me a child's snorkel and eye mask set and I remember spending a great portion of the holiday hunting for treasure at the bottom of the pool! My brother, who was also on the holiday, was 7 and had not yet learned to swim efficiently without rubber inflatable arm bands.

The pool was fairly large and had a man-made island in the middle containing palm trees and sun loungers. Parts of the pool were fairly secluded by palm trees, rockery and other shrubbery. I guess to give the impression that we were in some kind of tropical oasis! It was fairly posh.

Anyway, one day I was snorkelling in the pool late afternoon. Our parents were around but at the other side of the pool area (it was fairly big as I have mentioned). The pool and the loungers were fairly empty as many people had gone back to their apartments to get ready for the evening. I was in a secluded area of the pool. All of a sudden, I heard an almighty splash and felt a bump to my head as my brother dived on top of me from the side. Being 7, boisterous and full of energy, he had forgotten to put his arm bands on. Immediately he began to struggle as his feet wouldn't reach the bottom. My feet wouldn't touch the bottom either and so I tried to drag him to the side as he gripped onto me in panic pulling me under.

I would say we were around 6 feet from the side but this seemed like 6 miles as I tried to drag him while attempting to doggy paddle to the side. Because he was struggling this was extremely difficult and I remember swallowing quite a bit of water. Past splashing, I don't think either of us could shout for help as our heads were in and out of the water.

After the initial struggle, I felt us both propelled to the side as if someone had pushed us to help us out. We both managed to grip onto the side coughing and spluttering. The whole thing must have only lasted 15-20 seconds but felt much longer.

I turned around to say thank you to whoever had pushed us but no one was there...

Didn't think much of this at the time but now I wonder if it was "something" helping us? Or if my adrenaline kicked in and I swam to the side myself out of sheer panic and managed to drag him with me?