A brave pensioner desperately tried to save a teenage girl and her mother who drowned in the sea off the coast of East Yorkshire, before he was knocked down by a 20-foot wave.
Richard Shaw, 68, tearfully recounted how he heard the screams of Grace Keeling, 15, and her mother, Sarah Keeling, 45, at Withernsea Bay Beach.
He saw Grace floundering in the huge waves after she had been swept out to sea on Friday at around 3pm.
Her mother screamed at him to grab a lifebelt, which he threw into the water after running down the ramp to the water’s edge. Tragically, Grace was unable to reach the belt.
Mr Shaw then watched in horror as Sarah was swept into the sea by the relentless huge swells while she had been screaming for help to save her daughter’s life.
Mr Shaw lost sight of Sarah as he himself was also hit by two giant waves.
A third wave crashed into him and pushed him up the ramp, where he was helped up by another passerby.
Richard Shaw, 68, threw a life belt out to save Grace Keeling, 15, who was floundering amongst ’20 foot waves’
Grace Keeling, 15, and her mother Sarah Keeling, 42, from Nottinghamshire, both drowned in the rough seas of the coast off Withernsea in East Yorkshire last Friday around 3pm
Mr Shaw sat against the promenade wall and burst into tears of exasperation, saying he knew he ‘couldn’t do any more’.
A third person, Mark Ratcliffe, 67, also drowned while trying to save the girl and her mother from the water.
Breaking down in tears, Mr Shaw said: ‘I was immensely sad.
‘I knew she’d gone. If she could have been magically retrieved from that water, she could have probably been saved.
‘I knew the mother could not be stopped from attempting to save her, and it was just immensely sad knowing that.
‘This is an impossible situation. The sea is in charge here, and we are not.’
Mr Shaw had been walking his dog near the seaside resort’s Pier Towers when he first heard shouting.
He had noted that the waves were ‘extremely high’ and breaking against the sea wall.
Mark Ratcliffe, 67, also drowned while trying to save the teenage girl and her mother
Concerned, he looked over the wall between the ramp and the Pier Towers and saw Grace in the ’20ft tall’ waves.
He said: ‘I ran to get to a lifebelt and at the same time I was shouting and asking for the coastguard.
‘I retrieved the life saver belt from the container. It was not easy to throw the life ring.
‘Each time a wave came in and out, the girl would have been fully engulfed in the foam and froth of the sea.
‘It was a very angry and horrible sea, and she would disappear underneath the backwash and then resurface.
‘When she resurfaced, I tried to time it through with the belt so it would land near her, but sadly it did not.’
It was after he threw the lifebelt that he remembered looking to his right to see Sarah desperately shouting in vain to her daughter to grab the lifebelt.
Search teams found Sarah and Mr Ratcliffe’s bodies on Friday evening but have not been able to find Grace over the weekend
Her mother went down to the bottom of the ramp to try to reach her, and Mr Shaw called out to her not to get into the water, but she was swept out to sea.
He said: ‘At this point, the girl was not responding.’
He added: ‘The mother was near the bottom of the ramp, stumbling and falling, and I thought I could maybe reach her.
‘There was no way that mother was supposed to leave her daughter in that water, no matter how much we tried to get her out.
‘I thought I had the chance to reach her now, where the water receded. I moved in towards the bottom of the ramp, and she would have been 20 feet away from me. A huge wave just swept me off my feet, and I was hit against the wall and smashed my knee.
‘The waves just completely enveloped me, and when I came from under the water, I just looked over my right shoulder and saw that this wave was further out.
‘I had a glimpse of this other man trying to help, who had been swept by the waves.
Searches for Grace continue this morning on Monday, three days after the incident
‘I then got hit by another wave, and a third wave then hit me very heavily and washed me to the right to the bottom of the ramp, and I decided there’s nothing I can do here apart from either get out or lose my life.
‘Another young lady entered the waves at the same time as me, but was able to escape around the same time as me. She was also trying to get to the mother.’
In tears, Mr Shaw walked away from the scene and started shouting for help. A man came to help him and dragged him away from the ramp.
He was taken to the local cafe, where he was served a hot drink, and he met another man who tried to help with the rescue.
He said: ‘We have lived in this town now for 10 years and these tides were exceptional.
‘It was the highest tide that we can get this time, and the water was actually coming over the walls. It is horrific.
‘I lost my dad in similar circumstances. He died when I was 12 after trying to rescue our dog from a high tide in New Brighton.’
With the death of Mr Ratcliffe, Sarah and Grace Keeling, he said: ‘I did not know any of them personally, but it is a terrible situation.
‘They did their best in such a terrific situation. My thoughts are with their families.’
In a tribute, Mr Ratcliffe’s family said he was ‘a true selfless hero with a heart of gold, who was so cruelly taken trying to save others.
‘So many lives are now shattered that you’re gone. You were loved by so many people, and we will all miss you forever.
‘A loving husband, father, son, brother and the best grandad anybody could ever wish for. Sleep tight, we love you, we miss you.’
The bodies of Sarah Keeling and Mr Ratcliffe were recovered on the evening of Friday, 2 January 2026. Searches are still ongoing to find Grace.
There will be an increased police presence in the area during the search.
A Humberside police spokesperson said: ‘A man who died trying to help two people stuck in the sea in Withernsea on Friday, 2 January, has been named by the family as 67-year-old Mark Ratcliffe.
‘His family continue to be supported by specially trained officers.’
Helicopters, an air ambulance and RNLI crews from Withernsea, Bridlington and Hornsea Inshore Rescue were all scrambled to find the three dragged out to sea.
The search was paused at about 12.30am on Saturday but resumed at first light that day. It was stood down once again at 4pm, but police are still searching for Grace’s body today.