The uncle of a a 19-year-old who needed to be resuscitated after being caught in a riptide at Sea Palling on Saturday has spoken about how he was quickly forced to act.
Darren Tortice was swimming with his teenage niece and two younger daughters aged 7 and 10 when a riptide formed, taking in his niece and his 7-year-old daughter.
Mr Tortice described how they went from swimming in shallow water to being caught up in the riptide in a matter of seconds.
He said: 'They were swimming in water that was waist height and then 2 seconds later I turned around and they were screaming for help.
'I was about 15 metres away from them and I managed to get to them and keep them above the water until help arrived.'
His teenage niece needed resuscitation and his daughter had swallowed sea water which made her sick.
Mr Tortice suffered chest pains as a result of the incident but everyone involved will make a full recovery and his niece has since been released from hospital.
He also spoke about the horror of watching his niece receive CPR and praised the emergency services and coastguard for their role in saving her.
He said: 'They got her onto a surfboard and she wasn't moving. They started doing CPR which was a real shock for me.
'The emergency services and coastguard were brilliant in the situation. You don't realise how important they are until you need them. I want to thank them for all they did for us.'
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