Heroic lifeboat volunteer rescues two children and father from horror rip current at East Lothian beach

A heroic lifeboat volunteer saved the lives of two children and their father after they got caught in a rip current at an East Lothian beach.

Stefan Dillon was off-duty and surfing at Seacliff Beach on Monday when he noticed two children struggling against a rip current - a narrow channel of fast-moving water which flows away from the beach.

With 15 years as an RNLI volunteer under his belt, Stefan quickly sprung into action.

“I noticed a couple of heads in the rip current towards the Gegan, at the harbour end of the bay. It looked to be two children from a distance, but I could see that they were struggling against the current,” said Stefan, who is also a member of North Berwick Surf Life Saving Club and holds several life saving qualifications from Surf Life Saving Great Britain.

“By the time I got to the two boys, they were about 100 metres off the beach and right next to some dangerous rocks. If a big set had come through, we’d have been washed against the rocks.”

With the boys clinging on to Stefan’s board, he tried to get the attention of fellow beachgoers. The boys’ dad then made his way into the water to help but found himself in trouble.

“The Dad seeing his kids in trouble ran into the water but wasn’t a strong swimmer so was soon in trouble too,” said Stefan.

“Thankfully the rip current delivered him to me, but I was struggling to manage the three of them on my surfboard.”

A hero RNLI crew member has come to the rescue of three people in North Berwick | RNLI/North Berwick

He tried to calm them down and started to formulate a plan to get them all back to the beach when another surfer came over and was able to help.

Together they shuttled the casualties back to the beach, the other surfer taking the children, one at a time, and Stefan bringing their father back to dry land.

Stefan said the incident could easily have had a different outcome and urged beachgoers to educate themselves on what do to if they get caught in a rip current.

Stefan said: “The family were shocked and didn’t know anything about rip currents. The RNLI’s float to live campaign exists for situations like this. When you get caught in a rip your first instinct is to swim against it, which very quickly exhausts you and leads to panic.

“Instead of fighting it, you should try to stay calm by floating on your back with your ears submerged. Once you’ve identified which way the current is pulling you, you should swim sideways out of the current, where you’ll most likely be washed ashore.

“I don’t think the boys were even swimming, just paddling when a big wave knocked them off their feet and into the water.

“There was a point in the rescue where I thought we were all going to get slammed against the rocks and I was really hoping the lifeboat was on its way. Thankfully everyone was okay, but it could easily have been very different.”

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He added:”The RNLI’s website has lots of good safety information for different activities, or you could join a local Surf Life Saving Club; Dunbar, North Berwick or Portobello.

“In any coastal emergency you should call 999 and ask for the coastguard at the earliest opportunity, they’ll send the correct rescue teams to help.”