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Aberavon teen surfers who saved girls from sea 'like heroes'

Family photo Jack and TheoFamily photo
Jack and Theo put the girls on their surf boards and paddled them to safety

Teenaged surfers who rescued two girls from drowning have said the praise they received has been "absolutely crazy".

Jack Walton, 14 and Theo Spiteri, 15, from Cardiff, pulled the girls out of the water off Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot, on Saturday.

The pair tried to keep the girls calm as they paddled them back to safety on their boards.

Port Talbot Coastguard said they had "undoubtedly helped to save two lives".

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, the cousins described how they grabbed their boards and rushed into the water after calls for help on the beach, just before 17:00 BST on Saturday.

"I was worried, the girls were treading water, and swallowing water," said Theo, who said it took about five minutes to reach them.

Jack said he feared they might not reach the girls in time.

"I chucked the board in and I got one of the girls on my board, and Theo had one of the girls on his board, and we both started paddling in," he said.

"It was quite hard... they had jumped in the water with just bikinis on... they were in shock, so they couldn't really move, so we had to push them onto the board."

Family photo Theo and Jack with the coastguardFamily photo
Port Talbot Coastguard said the cousins had saved the lives of the two young swimmers

The pair said it was really worrying as the two girls appeared to be having panic attacks, and they tried to reassure them, telling them to "keep calm" as they paddled to the shore.

The cousins said the response had been "amazing" and they had received a lot of messages thanking them for their bravery, with Jack saying they felt like heroes.

"It's been absolutely crazy, everyone is asking what happened," said Theo.

The pair said they had spoken to the two girls to find out how they were doing, and they were fine.

Watch BBC reporter Natalie Crockett try out the RNLI floating technique

Police, a coastguard helicopter and ambulance were all called to the beach, as Jack and Theo rescued the girls.

"Once the casualties received treatment they were taken to the waiting ambulance," they said, adding an off-duty paramedic had helped at the scene.

"We would like to say thank you to the two young surfers who rescued the two swimmers, they undoubtedly helped to save two lives," they added.

"Thank you to the two members of public who provided immediate care until help arrived."

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