A group of Shropshire holidaymakers had to be plucked to safety when they were found clinging to rocks after being caught in a riptide off the Cornish coast.

The drama unfolded after two of the group went for a swim off Porth Beach, in Newquay, and got caught in the current. The three others leapt in to help them last night. The alarm was raised about 6.20pm.

Two women and three men, two of whom are from the Diddlebury area, near Ludlow, all got into difficulties.

Newquay coastguards helped two members of the group who were chest deep in water as they made their way to shore.

However the remaining three had been swept out to sea and were clinging to rocks at Porth Island and were unable to get back to shore.

Two Newquay RNLI lifeboats were launched and battled through the waves to recover the rest of the stricken group.

The holidaymakers, including brother and sister Stuart, 23, and Stephanie Morris, 20 – a student at Taunton University -  from  Diddlebury, were treated by coastguard staff at the scene for minor cuts and bruises.

Mr Morris works on his family farm with his father, John, who today was waiting for more news of the incident but said he had been assured that he would have been told if something serious had happened so he presumed his children were okay.

Coastguard officials said today the group was very lucky and could have died if they had not managed to grab onto the rocks.

Martin Leslie, coastguard officer with the Falmouth Coastguard, said: “We first received a call at 18.20 to a report of five persons in difficulties in the water.

“They had been swimming from Porth Beach. Two of them were being assisted to the beach by other people. Three of them were still being swept out by a rip current. They managed to cling onto a rocky outcrop on the island. It was Porth Island which is just off Newquay.”

Mr Leslie said the holidaymakers were aged in their early to mid-20s.

He added: “They have been quite lucky they have got onto this island and managed to cling there.”

Mr Dave Bulley, Newquay Coastguards station officer, said: “The crew did a cracking job in difficult conditions. At one point they had to put the bow of the boat on the rocks to retrieve the final casualty.”

By Lisa Rowley and Sophie Bignall