A teenager has been praised by a bus driver who claims her brave efforts saved her life.

Kathy Landy presented Jaqueena Harvey with a special certificate for her actions on May 20 the 14-year-old insists she was just "in the right place at the right time".

The former Whitney Institute Middle School student was getting off a bus after school when she noticed Ms Landy choking.

The bus driver had what Jaqueena later discovered to be a pillow mint, lodged in her throat. As a result, she was unable to catch her breath.

Jaqueena came to her rescue, telling The Royal Gazette she pounded Ms Landy's back as hard as she could.

"I was getting off when she started to choke and she told me to pat her back," she said. "But I was scared because I didn't know what to do. I started to pat her back and then [another student], a boy, offered his water. She told him no because it might fill up her lung pipe. She refused the water and told me to pat her back some more and I did and I saw the mint in her mouth."

Since the incident, Ms Landy has presented the teenager with a certificate, some money towards a school summer trip and offered to be her 'big sister'.

Ms Landy, a bus driver for 25 years, said: "It just shows the type of person that she is. I told her I was very grateful. I would have [otherwise] been dead."

But according to Jaqueena she was just "in the right place at the right time".

She said she had been planning to catch an earlier bus into Hamilton after school however her friend and cousin encouraged her to wait.

"I believe God had a part to play in that because what if I would never have been there? I feel, I don't even know how I feel. I feel very proud because I would have never thought I would have saved somebody's life," she said.

Jaqueena admits she was not taught first aid in school, but picked up some things from movies and her grandmother, who is a nurse.

Her mother, Sina May Harvey, believes all schools should teach CPR in case of similar emergencies as "anything could happen".

She said yesterday: "I was off the Island when it happened. I was happy, glad that she saved somebody's life."