Flashback to the weekend before last and two men are taken from a boat they swam to in Rousse by the Ambulance and Rescue Service inshore rescue craft. (Pictures by Peter Frankland, 0734423)

A SEA rescue could have ended very differently, according to a special constable who was on the scene.

Two young men were rescued from the water off Rousse last weekend after their dinghy sank.

The 21-year-old and 24-year-old had to swim to a nearby boat before being rescued by the St John Ambulance and Rescue inshore boat after they were spotted by passers-by from the shore.

Rod Norman was one of the first people on the scene and he believes the men are lucky to be alive.

‘If they had been 100 yards further out they would have likely lost their lives,’ he said.

‘If they hadn’t been spotted it could have ended badly. They shouldn’t have been out on the water.’

Mr Norman has been a special constable at Rousse for more than five years and he has seen this type of problem many times before.

‘It is about educating people. This problem will only get worse with the start of the summer,’ he said.