A HELICOPTER winchman involved in the dramatic rescue of two terrified girls and their mother from a flooded river has described the dangerous operation to save them.

The family had to be plucked from the River Ure by an RAF Sea King helicopter yesterday (Sunday, July 28). They had been clinging onto a tree stump in the rapidly rising water.

It is believed they had been paddling on a small island in the river in Hackfall Woods, near Masham, North Yorkshire when they were caught out by a sudden surge of water caused by heavy overnight rain.

A major rescue operation was launched, with fire crews from Masham and Ripon and swift water rescue teams, police and ambulance all attending.

But the emergency personnel said they quickly realised they would need a helicopter to save the family, as the water was expected to continue rising.

They creating a line upstream to catch debris and downstream to catch anyone swept away.

An RAF Sea King helicopter was then despatched from RAF Leconfield. But when it reached the scene, the crew realised it would not be a straight forward rescue.

Winch operator Sgt Jon Bramfitt said the whole area was surrounded by trees and the family were beneath some branches.

As the children's father watched helplessly from the riverbank, winchman, Sgt Garry Stewart, was lowered on a 125ft winch below the branches, to a point where he was out of sight of the crew and then “carried blind” until he reached the three people.

Sgt Bramfitt said: “The winch wire will work its way through the branches but there’s still a lot of potential hazards, the winchman can get caught, or the wire get tangled up and then you have the helicopter tethered to the tree.”

The two girls were pulled up together and then Sgt Stewart was lowered back down for their mother. The crew helped calm the terrified girls while their mother was being rescued.

“They were quite shocked and frightened,” said Sgt Bramfitt.

“We managed to calm them down and gave them a blanket to hide under and got a couple of smiles out of them. Then we landed in a nearby field and delivered them to the emergency services.”

The crew were just about to return to their base, near Beverley, East Yorkshire, when they received a call from the Coastguard, asking for their assistance off the coast of Scarborough, where a man had fallen overboard a boat named Don’t Panic.

The Sea King’s fuel was already at “critical” level, but the crew managed to quickly winch the man to safety and landed with less than five minutes’ worth of fuel in the helicopter’s tank.