Heroic surfer saves multiple swimmers in two separate rescues within two days

A heroic Barwon Heads surfer has saved multiple swimmers in two separate rescues within two days.

Ben Roberts was about to go surfing at Thirteenth Beach on Saturday afternoon when he noticed a family in trouble in the water.

“By the time we were entering the water they would have been nearly 150 metres out to sea,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“We were able to bring in the daughter and the son and then ended up having to go into help one of the guys who went in to swim after them.

“We were just trying to find the dad for a long time. The choppers came. We unfortunately couldn’t get to him, couldn’t find him.”

Lifesavers pulled the missing man from the water, but he sadly could not be revived.

Just 24 hours later, Mr Roberts was surfing with a friend when he found himself rescuing struggling swimmers for a second time.

“There was, again, a young girl, a son and a dad and they were getting pulled out in the rip,” he said.

“There was a local surfer coming in from out the back. He grabbed and helped one of them and then me and Cam grabbed the son and dad.

“They’d both been underwater. The dad was quite blue in the face.”

Mr Roberts urged those who aren’t confident in the water to take more care.

“If they’re not familiar with the ocean they probably need to have some real thought and care about where they go to have a swim,” he said.

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