Headline: Heroic café owner sprints into sea to rescue children from ‘wild’ waves
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This dramatic footage shows the moment a café owner sprinted into the sea fully clothed to rescue three children caught in rough waters off the Kent coast.
Steven Doorey-Williams dashed through the waves at Dumpton Gap beach near Broadstairs after frantic screams for help rang out from the shore as the youngsters got into difficulty.
The owner of the Bayside Café first used a life ring to pull a young girl and boy to safety before returning to rescue a second boy who was struggling in deeper water.
Witness Jo Drake, from Ramsgate, said Mr Doorey-Williams acted without a second thought as onlookers watched on in panic.
“I saw these children and thought the water looked quite bad - they looked like they weren’t having fun,” she said.
“It picked up quite suddenly, from fun and bumpy waves to swim in, to becoming wild.
"Then a mother and grandmother were getting hysterical and shouting, 'Can someone help?'.
“Steve then came out with his life ring and went straight in the water.
"There were initially two children - a boy and a girl - and then there were shouts of 'Another one, another one', so he had to go back in again, which led to him saving three kids.
“He didn’t hesitate for one moment in terms of not going in there. He was really heroic.”
The drama unfolded at about 2.30pm yesterday as conditions at the popular beach deteriorated, catching swimmers off guard.
It comes less than a fortnight after a major rescue operation further along the Thanet coast, when two children and a man had to be airlifted to hospital after getting into difficulty in the sea off Margate.
An air ambulance and HM Coastguard rescue helicopter landed on the beach shortly before 5pm on Saturday, July 25, as emergency services rushed to the scene.
It was confirmed the following day that all three casualties remained in hospital in a stable condition.
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