A lifeguard has told of how he and his colleagues rescued a 16-year-old girl who nearly drowned while swimming off Weymouth Beach.

The girl was swimming with a friend when she became exhausted 400 metres offshore and outside the red and yellow RNLI flagged swimming area.

Her friend managed to get to shore to alert RNLI Lifeguards Emily Nineham and Josh Westlake.

The girl, who at one point was unable to keep her head above water, was rescued by the lifeguards in their rescue boat and given oxygen on the beach.

Josh, himself only 17, said that though she did not have any injuries, she was quite shaken by the incident.

He said: “She was obviously in a bit of shock because she had just been rescued. When we got her to shore she was still in a bit of shock.” 

Josh said that once he and Emily had brought her safely back to shore, Emily checked the girl’s breathing and administered oxygen to her. 

She was making a slow recovery by the time paramedics arrived, after which she was taken to hospital for further checks.

Josh said that he and Emily managed to retrieve the girl from the water and return to shore within the space of three or four minutes.

He added that his blood was “pumping” a bit, but he managed to keep calm and do the job at hand.

He seemed pleased with how the rescue went.

He said: “It’s a good feeling, it’s nice to know that someone has been saved. It was a team effort, it was not just Emily and I. 

“We obviously had the people on the tower finding her in the water and when we came back to the beach someone came met us with a first aid kit.”

RNLI lifeguard supervisor Alice Higgins was “proud” of the whole team for the rescue 

She said: “The girl was in real trouble as she was rapidly becoming exhausted.

“Josh and Emily’s response meant that they were able to prevent the situation from escalating into something far more serious.”

With the start of the Bank Holiday weekend today (26), the RNLI is reminding beachgoers to take precautions to stay safe on the coastline.

The RNLI is particularly advising visitors to head to a lifeguarded beach and to always swim between the red and yellow flags, which mark the safest area to be in in the water. 

The advice comes in light of a spike in coastal rescues in Dorset over the last couple of weeks.

One rescue involved a boy who was airlifted to hospital after he fell from the rocks at Lulworth Cove and was dragged out to sea on Thursday, August 17. It was the fourth time in less than a week that the Lee-on-Solent Coastguard helicopter had been scrambled to perform a rescue on the Purbeck coast.

Another rescue involved a man who was lucky to be alive after falling 40ft off a cliff on Portland last Saturday (19) night and spen tthe night in a bramble-covered ditch. It was one of four coastal rescues in the Weymouth and Portland area in the space of 24 hours.

RNLI lifeguard supervisor Alice Higgins said: “We would urge visitors to come and chat to us if they have any questions about how to stay safe at the seaside.”

People visiting the coast are advised to wear the correct footwear, use ‘common sense’ and take note of any warning signs.

Check the weather forecast and sea state if going in the water, and don’t put yourself at risk when taking photographs on the coast.