A Kamloops farmer is being praised for his quick thinking, after he used his turban to save a teen struggling in a fast-moving river.

Nicole Mulcahy and Betty Timuss were preparing for dinner on Saturday in the city approximately 400 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, when they heard a noise coming from the North Thompson River. Then a teenage girl floated into view, screaming as the water swept her away.

She shouted to the women, "I can't swim, help me," Timuss said.

They realized they needed to find help, and fast, so Mulcahy ran up a hill on her property and started screaming and whistling to attract attention.

The men working at a neighbouring farm came running, but when they arrived, they didn't have any life-saving equipment either.

Sikh farmers Paul Hothi and his father, Avtar, could see that the teenager was floundering.

"Her head was going in and out of the water," Hothi said, adding that she kept repeating that she couldn't swim. Hothi stood still, feeling hopeless, but his father stepped into action.

"I turn around and I see him kind of take off his turban, and it just unraveled right away," Hothi said. His father then threw the end into the river for the teen to grab.

The religious symbol that never comes off, except at home, was transformed into a rescue rope, and the teen was pulled to safety.

"It doesn't come to your mind," Hothi said. "It doesn't come to anyone's mind. But my dad thought quickly."

His father told CTV News that he was just happy that no one was injured.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Kent Molgat