Marine Rescue NSW saves children in Brunswick River

North Coast Marine Rescue volunteers have released footage of a harrowing rescue as four children were swept downstream towards the mouth of the bar.

North Coast Marine Rescue volunteers are urging the community to be safe in wild weather after a harrowing rescue in the Brunswick River on Sunday.

Four children - three on boogie boards and one on a surfboard - entered the river 200m upstream of the bar but were quickly swept by the strong ebb tide downstream towards the mouth of the bar.

Two Marine Rescue volunteers on patrol saw the children in distress and raced to their assistance via jetski.

Marine Rescue Brunswick volunteer Jonathan Wilcox retrieved the youngest girl, aged eight, who had come off her small boogie board.

Volunteer Courtney Greenslade, visiting from Marine Rescue Point Danger, retrieved two other young girls.

The rescued children were quickly returned to their parents on the beach and volunteers then went back for the teenage girl who by then had drifted even closer to rocks and the bar.

Mr Wilcox said the children were extremely lucky that the volunteers had been on patrol that afternoon.

“Had we not been there to quickly rescue the children, a member of the public may have attempted the rescue themselves, and in the dangerous conditions on the bar, a tragedy might have ensued,” he said.

“Over the weekend we saw multiple instances of members of the public on boats, jet skis and boards taking insufficient notice of the dangerous conditions, placing themselves and those who had to help them, in danger.

“It is vitally important people heed warnings about dangerous weather and sea conditions, and closely supervise young children when they are near or in the water.”

It comes amid several tragedies across the region, including the death of a woman on a Coffs Harbour beach on Monday.