The first passersby to help one man became caught in the waves.
A chain of events led to four people being washed into the sea in seaside English resort town last week.
The ordeal began Friday when one man fell from a lifeboat station slipway, causing him to be battered by waves that were smashing against a seawall, according to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
His companion attempted to rescue him, but was unable to stand in the breaking surf and found himself in need of help.
When two passersby attempted to rescue the pair, they, too, ended up in the sea.
All four victims of the rough seas were finally saved when even more members of the public were able to get them to safety.
"This was a sequence of events which could so easily have led to multiple deaths," Dave Cocks, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Redcar, said. "The sea at Redcar is very rough as a result of the combined effects of strong winds and a particularly high tide, and the situation ended up with four adults in trouble in the sea, all needing rescue."
Thankfully, that rescue came just in time in the form of good Samaritans, who formed a human chain to pluck the victims out of the water.
Cocks was careful to say that others caught in rough seas are not always so lucky.
"It is only through good fortunate that all four were rescued alive," he said. "This just goes to show why people need to respect the water. The sea is a hostile, unforgiving environment. Tragically in the U.K. and Ireland at least one person dies from drowning each day."
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