Three heroic teen surf life savers rescue woman caught in rip at North Mullaloo beach

A woman was face-down in the ocean and had given up fighting a rip when three heroic teens saved her at the last minute.

The trio of 14-year-old members of the Quinns Mindarie Surf Life Saving Club had just arrived for training at North Mullaloo beach about 5.30pm on Monday when the dramatic rescue unfolded.

Three girls rushed up to them, panicking and calling for help.

About 50 people were on the beach, but with the swell high and the rip fierce, the bystanders watched on helplessly as the young woman and her boyfriend were being dragged out to sea.

With the male swimmer further from the shore, surf club coach Mitch Lee grabbed his board and dove into to save him first.

Mr Lee wondered how he would then manage to swim to the female and bring two people back.

But acting on “instinct” the teens — Finn Boyer, Molly Colgan and Coby Whitehead — sprung into action.

Finn was the first to reach the woman, who had drifted about 30m out.

“I was just thinking ‘I have to get out there’,” he said.

“She was on her stomach and really tired and struggling to hold on to my board.”

In her frantic state the woman was hesitant to get on Finn’s board, but agreed to hop on Molly’s board once she arrived after being knocked off by a wave.

Coby swam out and assisted the pair in bringing her back to shore, where the young couple received medical attention.

Molly said without her surf life training she wouldn’t have known what to do.

“No one really told us that we had to go in. We just sort of acted from what we had learnt, pretty much on instinct,” she said.

Mr Lee, 20, said when he turned around to rescue the female, much to his relief, the teen life savers were already taking her to shore.

“They had just got their surf rescue certificates a couple weeks beforehand, and I didn’t do my very first rescue until I was 18 years old,”

“They helped save two lives, which is pretty incredible.”

Despite all the drama, the trio completed their regular training session after the rescue.