Naked beach sunbather saves family stuck in rip current

A woman is being hailed a hero after she sprang into action to save a family of three from drowning while swimming topless at a beach.

A nude sunbather has been hailed a hero for saving a family of three from drowning in a rip current — while she was topless.

Jessica Layton was sunbathing on the naturist beach at Pedn Vounder near Porthcurno, Cornwall, on Tuesday when the drama unfolded, The Sun reported.

The 28-year-old had been at the beach to enjoy the current sunny weather in the UK.

“It was just after 3pm and the tide was coming in. I decided to go for a final rip before going home,” Ms Layton said.

Jessica Layton saved a family who were caught in a rip at a beach.

“I was topless in the sea when I saw two teenage girls struggling to swim near rocks, their mum ran in to help them and she started struggling too.

“I swam towards them and thought, ‘Oh s**t’ as I realised how strong the rip current was.

“I was struggling myself and they were panicking, which wasn’t ideal in a situation like that.

“I was going to tell them to float, which is the best thing you can do in a rip current, but they were panicking so much it wouldn’t have worked.

Ms Layton said she was swimming topless at the time.

“They were all holding hands, so I grabbed one of their hands and pulled them all on to the beach.”

Ms Layton, a theatre performer from Cornwall, said she was “not sure where the strength came from”.

She admitted people watching the rescue may have caught an eyeful.

“Fortunately I’d just put my bikini bottoms on before it happened,” she said.

“It’s a classic – of course, I was going to be topless when something like this happens.”

Ms Layton said she was a regular at the beach.

Ms Layton is a regular at the naturist beach, which does not have a lifeguard and is known for its rip currents.

“It’s lucky I was there,” she said. “It’s really weird thinking it happened. I can’t quite grasp it.”

On Facebook, friends praised her heroic actions, with one friend commenting: “Not all heroes wear capes, some of them don’t even wear bikini tops”.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission