North Sea hero who dived in to rescue drowning child told police ‘I’m not leaving that bairn’

A hero who saved the life of a child when his father died going after him has spoken of his daring rescue in the raging sea.

Davey Short has been hailed as the ‘hero of Hartlepool’ after he ran into the North Sea when two boys got into difficulty in the crashing waves on Sunday afternoon.

Two other men, one believed to be the boy’s father and another a complete stranger, died during the rescue.

The painter and decorator, 48, had been at his mum’s house around the corner from Seaton Carew beach when he decided to go for a swim to cool off.

When he got through the sand dunes he saw the sea was far too choppy to enter.

He saw a child swimming with a man who appeared to be ‘snorkelling’, bobbing on the surface face down. Then he heard the screams.

The mother was on the shoreline yelling. Her two sons had gone in to play in the sea and got swept out. Their dad had gone in after them.

Walking over, Mr Short went to see why he was shouting. The mother begged ‘Can you save my son? I can’t swim, please’.

Without thinking twice and ignoring police instructions to stay out of the water, the father-of-seven started sprinting straight into the North Sea.

He told Metro: ‘I didn’t care about myself. I didn’t even think about how bad it was. I just thought I’m going in for that bairn.’

‘I swam out as hard as I could to get to the little boy. I was getting so far out, it was getting so scary for myself.

‘I was shouting to him, “swim towards me and I’ll swim towards you”.

But the boy was worried about his father, who Mr Short had initially thought was snorkelling but was in fact unresponsive.

‘The kid was shouting “please save my dad” and was trying to get to him further out’, he said.

‘But I told him to focus on me. I grabbed his hand and just started swimming as hard as I could back to shore. He was quite big really and I’m quite small but I managed to get to where I could stand up.’

He held on to the boy, thought to be about 12, and walked back to the shore, where they both collapsed.

‘His mum was hysterical, screaming “thank you”. But the little boy was just crying, “My dad, he’s dead, isn’t he?”‘

Mr Short continued: ‘All the dad would want was that his son was alive, that’s why he went in.

‘I got his son out, I couldn’t save him. He was bobbing already – he was already gone. But he was the real hero. And the other man who died going in who didn’t even know them.’

The hero of Hartlepool hasn’t stopped there and said he will set up a crowdfunder for the family in the coming days.

‘I just want to raise something for the other two men that didn’t make it, just so the families have a little bit of help for the funerals, if anything.

‘If not, the young kids, if they can get something out of it, just a little holiday even – that would be nice.’

Superintendent Glen Ward of Cleveland Police said: ‘Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of both the men involved in this tragic incident today.

‘Despite the best efforts of emergency services, sadly both men were pronounced dead a short time after being brought out of the sea.

‘We are conducting enquiries into the circumstances of what happened today, although the deaths are not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the Coroner.

‘I would like to remind everyone that open water comes with serious risks. We know it is inviting in the hot weather, but we would encourage people to refrain from entering any open water at all. Today we have sadly seen the true tragedy that can happen as a result.

‘Please take extra care and enjoy the warm weather as safely as possible.’

It has since emerged Hartlepool Borough Council withdrew lifeguards at Seaton Carew in 2001 in a bid to make savings of £100,000.

A petition demanding lifeguards throughout the year has already seen more than 1,500 people signing up online here.