A rescuer is "astonished" that his group of friends was left to save two children without any immediate help.

Ben Donaldson, 21, leapt into the sea near Walton Pier on Monday when the youngsters were swept out by the tide. Along with his pals, brothers Ewan and Magnus Williams, they dragged the children to safety, but Mr Donaldson was disappointed they were working on their own.

"If we hadn't been there, there would have been a serious problem," he said.

"I thought it was pathetic, it will take a death to say that this is stupid. With the Beach Patrol packed up for winter the headlines could have been very different."

A spokesman for Tendring Council, which runs the Walton Beach Patrol, confirmed that the service shut on September 3 - three days before the incident.

The spokesman added: "We have to curtail the service at some point and unfortunately the Indian summer means that more people are still out on the beaches.

Mr Donaldson, from Colchester, was disappointed the patrol did not cover the whole of the school holidays.

He added: "We just had to swim our legs off. The enormity of the situation only got to us when we saw their mother when we got back.

"I wouldn't consider myself a hero, anyone would have done what we did."

Published Thursday, September 9, 2004

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