Five young children had to be rescued from a drifting dinghy by Falmouth’s lifeboat crew on Sunday after being blown out to sea.

The group of children, aged between four and six were playing in a dinghy on Carn Beach in Gerrans Bay yesterday, when someone let go of the painter and the boat drifted out to sea in the strong winds.

The alarm was raised at around 4pm and the Falmouth inshore lifeboat raced to their aid.

The Coastguard also called in rescue helicopter 193 from RNAS Culdrose after receiving a 999 call from their anxious parents on the beach.

When the lifeboat crew arrived just minutes later the helicopter had found the dinghy, which was by now over half a mile out to sea.

A canoeist was attempting to tow the dinghy toward an anchored yacht, the Eau de Vie from Mylor. One of the parents had also entered the sea in a bid to rescue the children.

The children, who by this time were cold and wet, managed to struggle on to the yacht, where the lifeboat picked them up and took them to their parents waiting on the beach.

The lifeboat crew said that, none of the children were wearing any kind of buoyancy aid, although two were in wet suits.

Luke Wills, helmsman of the inshore lifeboat said: “Had it not been for the prompt action of the Coastguard, the lifeboat crew and the rescue helicopter, this incident could have had very serious consequences. The children were approximately between the ages of four and six years old, had no means of propulsion and were rapidly being blown out to see in a fairly strong breeze”.