Three people – a father and his two daughters – are lucky to be alive following a near-drowning at the main beach in St Lucia on Monday.

The family, who was on holiday from Benoni, are believed to have been caught in rip currents and were swept out to sea.

According to NSRI St Lucia, a member of the public who had witnessed the incident and a former NSRI rescue swimmer, local charter boat skipper Izan Liebrand who was nearby at the time, were the true heroes – pulling off a successful rescue.

“On arrival at the scene, Izan discovered one person, a female aged 40, had been rescued from the surf by an unidentified public member, who had used one of the NSRI pink rescue buoys stationed at the beach to aid in the successful rescue. She appeared not to be injured,” said Jan Hoffman, NSRI St Lucia station commander.

Her sister and her father were still in the water – beyond the back-breaking waves.

“Izan took the pink rescue buoy from the public member and launched into the surf where he reached the two casualties, the dad aged 74 and his daughter aged 42.

“The pink rescue buoy was used to aid them to stay afloat, particularly for the dad who was struggling to stay afloat,” said Hoffman.

The two sisters were not injured but the dad appeared to have symptoms of non-fatal drowning.

“In the care of our NSRI medics, they were transported to our NSRI St Lucia rescue station where medical treatment was continued for the dad.

“He was taken into the care of Netcare 911 paramedics and transported to hospital, in a stable condition.

“He has been released from hospital following a full recovery,” he said.