Families watched in horror today as six children were swept out to sea by a riptide at a busy beach.
Bournemouth beach, packed with half term holidaymakers, was cleared by emergency services, which swooped to rescue the children thought to be as young as 12.
Two of those saved were rushed to hospital but, at least one, had CPR on the sand in front of panicked families.
Steve Larcombe, who works on Bournemouth Pier for a boat trip company, said: "There were six children involved, the police said four were walking and two cardiac arrests.
"I just hope the children are okay."
Mr Larcombe said he wasn't sure if the youngsters had been jumping off the Victorian pier or were swimming under it at the time.
And beachgoer Ritta Saruchera said her daughter and her friend were in the sea at the time when they saw what happened.
She said: "They were coming back out of the water when they saw a teenage boy struggling. There was another one floating in the water.
"We went to get help from the lifeguard and inform them of what was happening. There were three young men out there and they have been searching for a fourth."
Nicola Holton was on the beach with her husband at the time. She said the sea became dangerous very quickly with "multiple" people needing help.
She added: "One lifeguard went to rescue two swimmers struggling but he couldn't bring them in. He spotted another person struggling and a second lifeguard went out to them but there were multiple people in trouble.
"The remaining lifeguard was trying to get everyone out of the water.
"The ambulance service came to the struggling person rescued by the second lifeguard.
"More lifeguards arrived to rescue another swimmer near the pier.
"My husband spotted another swimmer struggling and dragged across parallel to the beach. He ran to the lifeguards. The guard immediately went in and they picked him up on a jet ski. I will never ever get the image out of my head of him being brought out.
"They cleared the beach for air ambulance. Then another was spotted and again brought to shore to be worked on. Absolutely horrible.
"Loads of idiots ignoring lifeguard requests to get out of the water and clear the beach. People were running towards those having CPR filming on their phones."
Paul Moyce, 61, said he believed those involved had been jumping into the sea off the pier.
He said: "I think they went off the end of the pier and went out too far. They must have got caught by the current. I lived here for 61 years band I've never seen anything like it."
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service said: "We were called to East Beach, Bournemouth at 4.39pm to support a multi-agency incident.
"We have crews in attendance from Westbourne and Springbourne, together with a technical rescue team from Poole."
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We were called at 16:07 on Wednesday 31 May to a sea incident in Bournemouth. We sent x2 air ambulances, x6 double-crewed land ambulances, x1 critical care car, x2 operations officers, x1 doctor, x1 hazardous area response team and x1 responding officer.
“We conveyed two patients to Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital.”
Cordons remained in place until around 6.45pm, by which time the air ambulances and patients had left the scene.
