A mother and her two young children were rescued yesterday after a strong current began pulling them out to sea.

Tourist Jurgen Hensdiek and resident John Harkess raced into the water at Spanish Point Park after the Bermudian woman began screaming that she could not support her two boys, aged seven and eight.

Mr. Hensdiek, a German chef who used to work in Bermuda, took the older boy on his back and the mother under his arm and swam against the current with them to the shoreline, while Mr. Harkess rescued the younger boy.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said the drama began just after 3 p.m. when her younger son slipped off the lie-low and she could not hold the pair above the water.

"My youngest son was throwing up and I was attempting to pull him on the lie-low when he slipped off and I couldn't hold him up," she said.

"I was tiptoeing about and it seem liked I could not hold him and I called for help. I was very much relieved when they came."

Mr. Hensdiek told The Royal Gazette: "I was reading my book then I heard her screaming for help.

"I went into the water and it was so far out she could not stand up and the current had taken them further out.

"I grabbed the mother and the older boy, who did not have armbands on. It only took a few seconds to get out to them because the current was so strong, but it was very difficult bringing them in because they were both hanging onto me and if they had been a few more yards out, it would have been very difficult indeed."

Mr. Hensdiek, 48, who is from near Hanover, Germany, added: "I am just glad I was there for the moment. If it was just me or just the other man, we would not have been able to get the three of them back because of that current."