when they went swimming and nearly drowned in a freak "rip current''.

The two women and eight men, contract workers at the Tynes Bay incinerator plant, had only ventured waist-deep in the waters of Horseshoe Bay.

They did not realise they were being dragged out to sea by an unusually strong undertow until it was too late. Unable to swim back to shore, they began screaming for help.

Mother of two Mrs. Judy Lajeunesse yesterday recalled watching helplessly as her two daughters struggled to keep their heads above water.

"My one daughter was saying `I can't swim anymore' and my husband was shouting to her to keep swimming and hold on -- it was terrifying,'' she said.

"I don't think the lifeguards realised what was happening until they started shouting, `Help! Help!'.

"The others had nearly given up too. They had no more energy left from fighting the undertow and swallowing mouthfuls of water.'' She felt if it had not been for the three lifeguards, Mr. Jamie Pedro, Mr.

Glen Davies and Mr. Richard Forehead, the group would have drowned.

She said that thanks to two men in the group, who put her daughters' lives ahead of their own by helping them, Cheryl-Lee and Linda, both in their 20s, were saved.

Her husband Jim had immediately swam out to them, but could not reach them because the waves and undertow were so strong.

In desperation, he formed a chain by joining hands with other beachgoers to try and reach his daughters. But that too failed.

"If it weren't for the lifeguards they would be gone,'' his wife said. "They really did a fantastic job -- and the people on the beach who helped. It was freaky. I've never seen the beach like that.'' Mrs. Lajeunesse said she was surprised the lifeguards had allowed anyone in the water that day considering the conditions.

Parks director Mr. Bill Cook, who heads the lifeguard programme, said the undertow that carried the group out to sea was a rare occurrence called a "rip tide''.

"They occur at Horseshoe and John Smith's Bay which is why there are lifeguards at those beaches,'' he said, adding that the "rip tide'' that swept through Horseshoe Bay was probably caused by Tropical Storm Harvey.

Lifeguards would not have known of the undertow's presence until someone ran into trouble.