Teenager saves family thrown from boat

A teenager dived under an upturned boat to find SOS flares that helped to save his family when a fishing trip went disastrously wrong.

David Matthews, 15, was with his grandfather, Andrew, 59, and two other family members off the coast of Wales when their boat was hit by a wave and capsized.

All four were plunged into the sea without their life jackets on. David's uncle, Murig Matthews, 43, could not swim.

As the family clung to the upturned boat, David dived under the water to grab two red SOS flares from the cabin. After apparently failing to get a response from the flares, his grandfather started swimming one-and-a-half miles to shore to summon help.

David, who wants to join the marines, said yesterday: "Murig can't swim at all and he was getting scared. The sun was going down on the horizon. We were very far out to sea. The boat was slowly sinking and it was going dark."

An off-duty policeman who had bought a pair of binoculars that day, Thursday, spotted one of the flares. A rescue helicopter was scrambled and all four were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. They were later released.

Nigel Porter, the Milford Haven coastguard manager, said the family was lucky to have survived. "They had about another hour or two at most. There were so many things that worked in their favour, the off-duty policeman buying binoculars that day, their last flare being launched successfully. It is miraculous," Mr Porter said.