Craig Bowe, a 42-year-old kitchen fitter, recounted his desperate efforts to save a mother and daughter who drowned off an Essex beach on Wednesday evening. Bowe was on a day trip to West Mersea, near Colchester, with his family to celebrate his daughter's 10th birthday when he heard screams coming from the water.
Despite the incoming tide, Bowe entered the water three times. He managed to pull Shally Rahman, 41, and her daughter, Samiha Rahman, 15, from the waves. Bystanders began administering CPR to Shally Rahman on the shore. Bowe then returned to the sea to help rescue a seven-year-old boy who had become stranded approximately 150 yards offshore. He assisted in loading the boy and another child onto a lifeboat.
"When I got there, the first two people I saw were actually face down, so [it was] more serious than I initially thought," Bowe told the BBC. He described the current as strong and the waves hitting him in the face during his rescue attempts. The seven-year-old boy was airlifted to a hospital and remained in critical condition as of Friday. Three other individuals were taken to the hospital by ambulance following the incident, which occurred around 5:35 PM BST.
The family of the rescued children had been on a day out from Barking, east London. Bowe, from Northaw, was inspired to act after hearing a man screaming and seeing bodies in the water. He was aided by an unnamed man during the rescue efforts.