A retained firefighter from Shropshire helped to drag a man to safety after spotting him struggling in the sea as he holidayed on the Greek island of Crete.

The German tourist was close to drowning when Simon Bendall, of Baschurch, managed to help haul him out of the water in the dramatic rescue.

Mr Bendall, a firefighter at Baschurch Fire Station for 16 years, today told how a change in the current had left the swimmer in difficulty.

He said he was relaxing on the beach with his wife and two children when sea conditions in the resort of Stalis changed within minutes as waves began reaching almost three metres.

Mr Bendall, 40, who runs Station News in Shrewsbury, then noticed a man in his 40s or 50s getting into difficulty more than 60 metres from shore.

“I was relaxing on the beach when something grabbed my attention. I saw someone in the water bobbing up and down with their hand in the air,” he said.

“I then saw two men shouting on the beach so I just jumped up and raced out to him.”

A second man swam out with him, but efforts to move the swimmer with a safety ring proved futile as the undercurrent in the water was too strong.

“The conditions had change so quick. The current was so strong but I managed to loop the rope line in my hand and just chucked it as far as I could towards the shore with the guy on the other end,” said Mr Bendall.

The safety ring rope flew more than 30 metres towards the shore and a couple of onlookers were able to gradually help drag the German tourist to safety.

Mr Bendall added: “I guess I used my experience as a firefighter as it made me aware of what was going on around me.

“The adrenalin must have kicked in. The man spoke no English, but he had a big grin on his face. I think he knew what we had done.

“He was in a lot of shock and just sat back down in his chair.

“People were cheering and there were one or two high fives. Quite an audience had gathered.”