A dad of four who clung to a marker buoy for nearly an hour before being plucked from the sea has spoken of his terrifying ordeal.

Josh Davies, 25, was on holiday with his pregnant partner and four children and was playing football on the beach with his kids when the ball went into the water.

They were staying at Carmarthen Bay Holiday Park as a surprise trip to celebrate his son’s birthday.

On the beach Josh went to collect the escaped football, but found himself trapped by the fast-rising tide and in a matter of minutes was up to his neck in sea water.

“I picked up the ball and turned round and what was beach was water,” he said. “The tide had come in really quickly out of nowhere.

“I was stuck on a little bit of sand with water coming from every angle, screaming and shouting at my partner ‘I’m stuck’.”

South Wales Guardian: Josh, pictured here with his family, thought that his time was up after he was swept out to sea.

Within five or ten minutes the sea had come up to Josh’s neck and the current was pushing him out to sea.

“I didn’t know what to do,” said Josh. “I was shouting and screaming ‘help me’. I’m a good swimmer but when you are in the sea it’s different. The current was so strong it took me down stream.

“I was floating there thinking ‘this is my time’. I was so scared.

 I shouted goodbye to my partner and my children. I was telling them that I loved them. I didn’t know what to do.

“It was the scariest moment of my life. I was prepared to go. I thought my days were up. I was floating in the water thinking ‘what happens next when you drown?’”

Josh then saw a marker buoy about half a mile away. He tried to swim to it but couldn’t get close enough and neither could he swim to shore against the current.

He managed eventually to float to the buoy and clung onto it for dear life for around an hour.

“I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “The bottom half of my body had shut down. I couldn’t feel anything. I tried to kick my legs to get the blood circulating.

“There was a guy on the beach who had tried to help me. He called that a helicopter was coming.”

Coastguards had been alerted and Tenby All Weather Lifeboat, The Haydn Miller was launched alongside Burry Port lifeboat and Ferryside inflatable rescue boat had been launched.

Coastguard rescue helicopter 187 was also tasked to the incident and police and coastguard teams searched from the shore.

“Five minutes later a lifeboat came,” said Josh. “They had to go in a big circle to get to me the current was so strong.

A guy called Mike grabbed my hand and hauled me out of the water into the boat. I was hugging him saying ‘you have saved my life’.”

The coastguard rescue helicopter then landed and the paramedic on board checked Josh over.

“It was the scariest moment of my life,” said Josh of his ordeal. “I am still getting flashbacks. I’m okay for a couple of hours and then my face will be full of tears.

“We were just playing football on the beach. There were no signs about the current. Nothing to warn us.

“Afterwards the police told us that there are three rivers coming into one estuary. They said they couldn’t believe there were no warning signs.

“I want to thank all those involved in the rescue, especially the two men on the boat. They saved my life.

“If they hadn’t come out I wouldn’t be here. Mike was brilliant. I will forever be grateful and thankful to him.”