A 74-year-old man who died after attempting to save two teenage girls from drowning has been praised as a hero. The man was recovered unconscious from the water off Tywyn beach in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, by a lifeboat crew and attempts were made to revive him at the scene. He was airlifted to hospital but later died.
A second man and the two girls were recovered safely from the sea. The teenagers were taken to hospital as a precaution after the incident on Saturday afternoon.
Tributes from what are understood to be children and friends of the drowned man, who has been named locally as Dick Guest, were posted on the Love Tywyn Facebook page after photographs were published of the rescue operation.
Gareth Guest wrote: “Unfortunately my dad (74) drowned after he’d helped save two girls who were in difficulty. Everyone has been very kind. He was that kind of person. I am going to miss him very much, as is the rest of my family.”
Ceri Donovan said: “We are devastated by what has happened to my Dad. Thanks for the kind words x.”
John Pimm wrote: “Dick Guest was one of the very special people in this world, down the rugby club he always had a word of advice, in life always a smile and in death a selfless act to help others. That’s what I consider a hero. Deepest sympathy to the Guest family xxx”
A five-mile long sandy beach, Tywyn is popular with surfers and jet skiers. Aberdovey RNLI’s lifeboat operation manager, Dave Williams, said: “We were called at 3.47pm and told two youngsters had been swept out to sea. There was a rip current that dragged them out to sea and they got into difficulties.
“When we arrived we found a man in the water. We did CPR and then as soon as the coastguard helicopter arrived he was transferred to hospital. A member of the public happened to be there surfing and had helped some of the people back to land. They were about 30 to 40 metres away from the shore.”
In a separate incident a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl got into trouble in the water off Harlech castle in north-west wales and had to be rescued by the emergency services. They were taken to hospital by air ambulance.
It is thought the swimmers may have also been caught up by rip tides. Holyhead coastguard received the initial distress call at about 3.50pm saying a male and a female swimmer had been dragged out to sea from Harlech beach.
It is understood the boy, who was airlifted to Ysbyty Gwynedd, had taken in water and needed urgent medical attention.
North Wales police has issued a warning to the public to take extra care in the sea during the hot weather and to avoid taking risks.
