THE SEA WAS BREAKING OVER THE BOYS’ HEADS AND THEN THEY WERE GONE
A father has died and his two-yearold daughter was fighting for her life last night after a family of five were swept out to sea by 13ft waves.
The parents and their three children were standing on rocks when their summer holiday in Cornwall turned to tragedy.
Two of the children managed to scramble back on to the rocks.
But their parents, both in their 30s, and two-year-old sister had to be rescued from the sea at Fistral Beach, Newquay, in treacherous conditions.
Lifeguards rushed to the scene after being alerted by a 999 call at 5.20pm on Friday.
An RNLI sea scooter was used to rescue the mother while a lifeboat was sent to recover the father and daughter.
Lifeguards carried out CPR on the man before he and the girl were airlifted to hospital, where the dad was declared dead on arrival.
The mother escaped with minor injuries.
The other two children were taken to hospital by ambulance and were treated for minor injuries and shock.
Last night, their sister was said to be in a critical condition.
The family, from Surrey, who were holidaying in the area, have not been named.
Eyewitness Grant Purvis, who saw the rescue operation, said: “It was heartbreaking to watch.”
The tragedy happened as high winds and huge waves battered the Cornish and Devon coast.
The RNLI said sea conditions changed dramatically between 4pm and 5.30pm, with crews being called to three rescues in the area.
Despite the tragedy, residents said people were still going into the sea yesterday, ignoring red flags warning them not to swim.
James Instance, of Falmouth Coastguard, said: “It’s not your normal August swell. This is a big, big surf that has the power of getting people into difficulty very quickly.”
This is a big, big surf that has the power to get people into difficulty quickly