AN APPEAL has been launched to find a family whose children were helped to safety from the sea at Coryton Cove.

Julie Gay, from Gloucester, who was on holiday in Dawlish in August, has asked for help to get in touch with a mother, understood to be local to the town, after a rescue effort at the beach.

Her appeal on social media is asking for information to find out how the mum and her children are now.

Julie, who sustained a knee injury during the incident, said she didn’t get the mum’s name as she was ‘in shock’.

She and her husband were enjoying the sun at Coryton Cove on August 31 when Julie noticed several children struggling in the water.

Writing on social media, Julie said: ‘I’m looking to find the mum, I just want to know how she’s doing.

‘I don’t know her name just that she was young, thin and mentioned she was local to Dawlish.

‘I was in shock and it was all a bit of a blur after I got back to the beach and hugged the children.’

Julie has since struggled with her knee and has undergone treatment.

During the incident, her leg became stuck under a section of rock hidden from the surface and she ‘ripped’ her leg as she tried to get away, unable to breathe.

Julie described her efforts to ‘save’ the three children as undercurrents seemed to take them into deeper water.

She said the children were aged about eight to 12 years old.

She said: ‘I screamed help and did the two handed SOS wave but nothing.

‘I made my way to them as fast as I could, but I was terrified, the floor dropped off suddenly and was at least eight feet deep with a hidden rock wall under the surface.

‘I was being pulled over and down, I took in a lot of water.

‘Between waves, I’m shouting instructions, face up, mouth closed, try to float not swim.

‘I nearly backed out at one point but the girl shouts she can’t actually swim and she’s lost her body board.

‘I grabbed the smaller looking and most scared boy, who had a body board he was clinging to.

‘Then I swam deeper with him to get the drowning girl, so she’d have something to grab as I desperately fight the current.

‘I see the mum has just made it into the water, swimming as hard as she can for the other boy.

‘We did it though, we got them, somehow.

‘It felt nearly impossible.

‘The mum was trying so hard too, we got back on the sand and she helped me as I had a massive panic attack.

‘I pretty much collapsed and she fed me chocolate as I shook and shivered.’

Julie’s message after the rescue is to be wary of the sea and not to use body boards in rough waves.

She explained that the sea is ‘scary’ and warned anyone in the sea to stay in their depth, including wave height.

She said: ‘It was a bloody close call.

‘I didn’t share this as a brag, more a cautionary tale. I’m not a hero.’

Body boards, she warned, provide a false sense of security but if there is a hidden under current, it can be dangerous.

She appealed to ‘onlookers’ to call for help if they see a similar situation and ring 999 asking for the coastguard.

She said: ‘If a stranger is screaming for help and waving their arms between going under, assume it’s a real emergency until you’ve checked.’

Since the August 31 incident, Julie says she has been receiving treatment for a knee injury.

She said: ‘My own son doesn’t believe it happened.

‘I just keep wondering how they are especially the little girl, she was so brave.’