Sunderland's Duncan Watmore saved three elderly passengers when their fishing boat was hit by a catamaran in Barbados.
Watmore, 23, had been on the island as part of his recovery from a cruciate knee ligament injury but managed to pull the trio to safety just before their boat sank.
His father, Ian Watmore, tweeted that the incident "happened in February" and that it "sounded horrific when he told us, but typical Duncan he wanted to downplay it."
The footballer then used his T-shirt as a tourniquet for the leg of a passenger which was bleeding heavily.