A MAN has spoken of a remarkable rescue mission after he saved two people from drowning at a North Yorkshire beauty spot.

Amazingly it is the third time that such an heroic rescue has been carried out by Stuart Frankish, originally from Wheldrake, near York, but who now lives in Eaglescliffe, Cleveland.

On the most recent occasion, Stuart, 32, dragged a man out of the River Derwent at Kirkham Abbey, near Malton, after seeing him struggling in the water.

He then jumped back in to save another man who was in difficulty, having dived in to rescue his friend.

Stuart and his wife, Helen, were driving back from visiting relatives near York when they passed the beauty spot.

He said: "We could see all these people on a bridge pointing. Someone was struggling in the water. Somebody else jumped in after him and then he got into difficulties so I pulled my shoes off and went in."

It transpired that the man was one of many who had jumped off a bridge into the water to cool down on a hot day - a bridge that Stuart said he had jumped off himself when he lived in the area.

"I had to dive down for him," said Stuart. "He was five or six feet down. He started spluttering and coughing when we reached the surface and he said he couldn't feel his legs.

"I pulled him out and asked his friend if he was all right. He said 'no', so I went back in for him."

An ambulance was called, but Stuart has since heard that the original man, whom he knows only as Ian, aged 21, from Easingwold, was OK.

Stuart first saved someone from drowning when he was 16 in Cornwall and he also rescued a girl last year in Devon when she got caught in a rip tide.

But he said that neither were quite as dramatic as his most recent rescue.

PICTURE: The River Derwent at Kirkham Abbey, scene of a dramatic rescue