Lifeguards reunite with boy they saved from rip

Lifeguards have been reunited with a boy they saved from a rip current.

Joe, now 15, was enjoying October half-term, nearly three years ago, on Trevone beach, in Cornwall, when he was dragged out to sea.

The current also pulled out his mother Sarah who lost sight of him in the waves.

The RNLI is highlighting the rescue as part of World Drowning Prevention Day.

'Help my son'

Joe said he had desperately tried to get back to shore but failed.

"I kept kicking and kicking and trying to get back to the shore and trying to get out of the rip, but I just couldn't do it," he said.

His mother said a member of the public tried to help her when she got into trouble.

She said: "I said, 'don't help me, please go and help my son' and he said 'it's too late, he's gone'.

"I had the split second decision to say I've got to get out of here because my daughter can't watch us both drown... I can honestly say it was the worst couple of moments of my life."

The RNLI sent an inshore rescue boat from Harlyn to rescue Joe.

'Immense hope'

Jake Dean, an RNLI lifeguard, said the conditions were dangerous.

"The waves are always bigger at Trevone than they are at Harlyn, so we knew that when we were going to get there, the waves were going to be bigger," he said.

Joe said: "Seeing that boat come towards me was [a feeling] I can't describe, it was an immense hope."

Sarah said she thought Joe would have drowned had the RNLI not been there to help.

"Without the right people round me, I could have followed him as well," she said.

"We were so well looked after, I've got nothing but gratitude for the RNLI."