LIFEGUARDS rescued a child and two women who got caught in a rip current off the North Yorkshire coast.

Cayton Bay RNLI lifeguards rescued the three body boarders, including an 11-year-old boy, caught in a strong rip current off Cayton Bay Bunkers, near Scarborough, on Sunday.

At around 12.23pm, the charity’s lifeguards immediately got into action when Senior Lifeguard Andy Hogg noticed three body boarders struggling against 1.5m swell, and a strong rip current which had separated an 11-year-old boy from the two women.

Within minutes the RNLI lifeguards, Adam Haxby and Will Gibson, had launched their paddle boards to rescue both adults and child, who were approximately 200 metres out to sea, and were able to secure them to their boards and bring them back to shore.

All three were assessed and found to have no serious injuries and received after-care from the RNLI lifeguards once they were safely brought to shore.

RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor, Matt Jones, said: "The heatwave this weekend has obviously brought a lot of people to the beaches up and down the country, and with that the role of RNLI Lifeguards becomes even more important.

"We urge everybody wanting to enjoy the sun with their friends and families to visit a lifeguarded beach - this way we are always on hand if anybody gets into difficulty, or to simply give advice on how to stay safe in the water, for example to swim between the red and yellow flags."