Three surfers rescue drowning family at Malua Bay

Locals Lincoln Dell, 14, and Jet Love, 16, were surfing their regular break at Malua Bay on the NSW south coast on February 3, when they noticed two children caught in dangerous surf.

They saw the two young kids under 10 years old swimming in what the teenagers identified as a rip. Regular summer lifeguard patrols at the beach had finished for the season one week earlier and it was unpatrolled at the time.

As Lincoln paddled over on his surfboard to check if the swimmers were okay the children's father ran into the water to help them.

"They were swimming in a bad spot. Then the dad came running in because he saw the kids were in trouble and he got caught in an even worse spot," Lincoln said.

It was a "really, really dangerous," situation, he said.

Another Malua Bay resident Daniel Hall was bodyboarding at the time and saw the teenagers paddling away from the waves. Their unusual movement drew Mr Hall's attention to the struggling swimmers and he rushed to help too.

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The now three swimmers - two children and their dad - were stuck in a "really weird rip" where just one step off a knee-deep sandbar sucked you into a "swirly rip with heaps of undertow," Mr Hall said. They were only about 20 metres from the shoreline, but in incredible danger. Lincoln said the children couldn't swim.

"When I got there, the boy was under, I had to pull him from under the water onto my board," Lincoln said.

"It's crazy how quickly it happens - just one step off the sandbank and you're gone."

Lincoln and Jett helped save the young boy; Mr Hall the daughter on his bodyboard. Lincoln and Jett rushed back out to help the father.

They had just made it to the sandbar when a few big sets came in and "cleaned us up," Mr Hall said.

"Time stands still in that moment," he said.

Mr Hall said he was "fried" when he finally made it to the beach.

He said all the credit was due to Lincoln and Jet.

"They were the first ones to see it and react to it, and they saved the young family," he said.

"Without these young dudes, the swimmers were gone.

"They would've died, and the dad would've died too."

Lincoln said everyone needed ocean knowledge to stay safe at the beach.

"If they had more beach knowledge, the could've been fine," he said.