THREE heroic school pals risked their own lives to save a man who was drowning in Old Leigh.

As onlookers screamed in fear, brave 12-year-old Fin Guest went in to the waters to rescue the man, believed to be in his forties, who had got into difficulty after diving off Bell Wharf on Tuesday afternoon.

Fin’s friend Ted Camm, 12, jumped in to help support the man as he flailed in the sea before Lewis Barrett, also 12, hauled him out using a rope he had found.

Keen sportsman Fin, of Fillebrook Avenue, Leigh, said: “Everyone kept saying: ‘Well done, well done.’ I felt quite happy.”

Lewis, who goes to Southend High School for Boys, said: “What Fin did was definitely very brave. The man was quite big and Fin could have drowned himself.”