A HEROIC teenager who leapt into action after a group of beachgoers got into difficulty out at sea before administering first aid has been praised.

Chris Sutton, 19, is understood to have been working for Tendring Council’s Beach Patrol team when a large-scale sea rescue operation was launched in Clacton.

The emergency services raced to the seafront after six young people found themselves in difficulties in the water at the east side of Clacton Pier.

After sensing the jubilant sunny atmosphere quickly turn tense, on what was one of the hottest days on record, Chris is said to have rushed to help those in need.

Gazette:

Robert Kendall, who runs the Atlanta Café, positioned close to where the terrifying events unfolded and next to the Beach Patrol’s base, has now commended the teenager.

He said: “There was a massive shout about multiple people being in the water and Chris went straight over to the east side of the pier to help.

“He then came running back to the Beach Patrol office before a boy and a girl washed up on the beach on the west side.

“He rushed over with a defibrillator, which he did not have to use, and got all the crowds out of the way. He took complete control and didn’t panic - it was amazing.

“The boy was exhausted but we then got them both to the Beach Patrol office where Chris administered first aid and checked all their vital signs.

“Back in the 80s I saved a woman who was in freezing cold waters near the pier and in my opinion Chris did just as good as that, if not better – he acted beyond his years.”

Gazette:

Following the rescue of five people, a search for a sixth continued for days, before a 21-year-old man was eventually found dead just off the coast in Jaywick.

Mr Kendall, 62, who has run his café for ten years, added: “I have seen this sort of thing so many times now, so I have become a bit immune to it.

“But all my employees are young and some of them got really upset, as you would expect – all I know is, it could have been a lot worse.”