Two schoolgirl surfers who nearly drowned as they were swept out to sea were recovering today after being saved by Prince William’s rescue helicopter.
The sisters, aged 16 and 13, were plucked from the sea by the RAF search and rescue crew after a rip carried them away from the shore as they body-boarded off Anglesey.
The RAF said it was one of its “fastest and shortest” operations, with the helicopter, captained by the Duke of Cambridge, taking 38 seconds to arrive from its base at RAF Valley.
Master aircrew Harry Harrison, the winchman, said the elder girl had been in particular danger as she was exhausted trying to remain afloat off Cymyran Beach, Rhosneigr.
He said: “When I got to her, the elder girl was clearly exhausted and was going under the water for what was the very last time.
“We never know what we’ll face when we’re called out. Sometimes it’s just a twisted ankle or a broken bone, but this was one rescue where we truly did arrive in the nick of time and managed to save two young lives.”
The girls, from Herefordshire, were taken with their mother to Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor after yesterday afternoon’s rescue. The elder sister managed to thank the crew on the way to hospital and told them she believed she was about to die.
The crew had been called to a similar drama at Rhosneigr minutes earlier when a child and three adults were carried out by a rip but managed to scramble onto rocks and to safety.
The Duke of Edinburgh continued his recovery today from a recurrence of a bladder infection. Prince Philip, 91, was resting and was not expecting to receive visitors, though Buckingham Palace said he was in touch with his family by phone.
He was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on Wednesday. He is expected to remain in hospital over the weekend.
