A father today told how he helped rescue a ten-year-old girl from drowning in the sea off Clacton.
Phillip Ellison was with his step-daughter in a rubber dinghy when he heard a woman screaming nearby.
The 29-year-old pushed the dinghy back towards the shore and swam over to the mother who was in a hysterical state.
"I could see the body of a child upside down in the water with its head beneath the surface," he said.
"I managed to get her back to a concrete groyne and others came across and helped me lift her out of the sea.
"A lifeguard came over and then he shouted to me to help get the grandmother out."
Mr Ellison, of Eldred Avenue, Colchester, said when he spoke to a lifeguard he discovered they had gone to a spot nearer Clacton Pier at first.
"They thanked me for what I did and I was just glad to have been there," he said.
The near tragedy happened at the town's West Beach about 12.30pm on Sunday.
Published Tuesday August 10, 2004
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