A LIFEGUARD dramatically rescued two drowning children in one hour off Boscombe beach.

David Hubbard swam them to safety after a riptide developed around the end of a groyne near Boscombe Pier.

He pulled an 11-year-old boy out at around 2pm on Friday afternoon, then an eight-year-old girl around an hour later.

“These were by far the most serious incidents I have dealt with,” said David, 29, of Poole.

“It was two kids drowning – if you don’t help them, they die.”

The easterly wind made the waves gouge a two metre deep pit – and that created a rip tide.

The lifeguards put down warning flags but the boy, believed to be from Boscombe, was one of a group of friends playing too close to the danger zone.

The other children swam to safety, but he got pulled and started going underwater.

David dived in and dragged the boy 30m to the shore as he spluttered up seawater.

“He had taken on a lot of water. He was groggy and couldn’t tell me much about himself,” said David, a former England volleyball player.

The boy was checked over by the lifeguards and then an ambulance crew.

Then, David saw the eight-year-old girl from London out of the corner of his eye, when she got trapped as she tried to fill her bucket in the water.

“She was going under – just really fighting for her life. She was screaming and crying.”

He again went into the water and brought her back.

The girl was checked over by the lifeguards and then taken to hospital by her parents.

David said: “Parents need to make sure they supervise their children if they have entered the water.

“People coming down to Bournemouth think it’s just like going into a swimming pool, but they need to be aware of the dangers.

“The water was a few inches deep - then it dropped off into this pit.”