A SURFER was saved from the sea yesterday - but a would-be rescuer nearly drowned.

Lifeguard Paul Crook, 19, from Redcar, swam into choppy seas at Saltburn to save 24-year-old Donna Ford who was being swept out by a strong current while surfing with a friend.

But Mr Crook got into difficulties himself and a lifeboat crew feared he was dead when they reached him, about 100 metres from Saltburn pier.

Mark Reeves, a lifeboat helmsman at Redcar Lifeboat Station, said: "He was under the water and we found it difficult to find him. I thought he was gone. He had swallowed a lot of water.

"He could hardly walk when we got him ashore but we could just see the relief he felt on his face. He said himself afterwards that he thought he was going to die."

Mr Crook was taken to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, but was later released.

Meanwhile, Saltburn surf shop owner Nick Noble, 44, who had rented out a body board to Ms Ford earlier in the day, used a surf board to go out to sea and brought her safely to shore. She was taken by ambulance to the James Cook University Hospital.

Mr Noble, a fully-trained beach lifeguard and an experienced surfer, said: "It was difficult to find her in among all the waves. If she had been left out there she would have drowned.

"Paul had obviously become separated from her and somehow he lost his rescue board so they both ended up in difficulty.

"The woman was trapped in a current and was in a total panic. But she did what I said which was a huge relief. She and her friend had hired body boards from me that morning so in a sense I suppose it was my duty to save her."

Operations manager at Redcar Lifeboat Station, Ian Readman, said: "The lifeboat got there in the nick of time. It was a really good team effort."

Ms Ford, from Middlesbrough, was also discharged from hospital last night.