The dreadful battle to save three best friends who died trying to rescue their children from the sea in the Algarve was described yesterday by surfers who had warned the children of the danger they were in.

Deborah and Robert Fry and their best friend Jean Dinsmore drowned after rushing into the sea when their children became trapped by a strong current on Monday afternoon. A German father, who has not been named, died of a heart attack soon after rescuing his child.

George, 9, and Rosie Fry, 11, had gone for their last swim of the day with some friends, including a German boy, near a house-sized rock in Praia do Tonel when they became caught up in a swirling mass of water created by the tide and currents close to the rock. Surfers on the beach, which has a reputation for some of the best waves in the world, were able to rescue the children but could not save the heavier adults.

Jaime Revuelta, one of six surfers in the water when the children began screaming for help, recalled the 20-minute fight to rescue Mr Fry, a 52-year-old architect, from the water.

“It was awful, absolutely horrible,” he said. “I’ll never forget the look on his face as we tried to get him from the water.”

He told how Mr Fry managed to rescue his son from the currents before being dragged back in to the sea while his 48-year-old wife joined the rescue effort.

“I saw one man reach out into the current to a boy, who he managed to lift up and help back towards the shallower water. But then the man got dragged under himself,” Mr Revuelta said.

“We all grabbed him and tried to pull him, but the water was so strong he kept getting pulled further under and away from us. He was crying out and we were trying to pull him out by his arms.

“This went on for at least 15 minutes, perhaps 20. It was exhausting. All we had been concentrating on was trying to keep his head above water and get him back towards the beach.

“At that point we managed to get him on to a long board. We dragged him on to the beach and someone tried to resuscitate him. Then I saw all the other people who had been around.

“There was a woman who seemed to know the man. She was crying and crying, standing over him and shouting at him. His children were running up and down, up and down, crying and screaming.

“In the end someone took them off up the beach and when the paramedics came they took over the first aid but it was obviously too late.” The Fry family had travelled to Portugal for a half-term holiday with Mrs Dinsmore, her husband Roy and their children Alexander, 9, and Lydia, 11. The families had met up with Dean and Susan Plumb and their children Samuel, 12, and Harry, 5.

All three families were preparing to go home after a day on the beach at Praia do Tonel on the southwesterly tip of Europe when the children decided to go for a final swim close to the rock in the middle of the cove.

Daniel Salvaterra, 33, who runs a surf school on Tonel beach and works part-time as a lifeguard, said that he had warned the British children to leave the sea because of the strong currents 15 minutes before they got into trouble.

“I was on the beach and saw the children out playing in the currents. The water wasn’t very deep, just up to their waists, but I went out and told them it was dangerous and they came back to the beach,” he said.

“Fifteen minutes later I was just heading up the hill to my car and I heard all the trouble. I looked out and saw the children had gone back and were in trouble. Their parents were running to try to help them.

“The trouble is the guys who went out to save the children were trying to fight against the currents, which made them panic and get tired.

“By the time I got down to the water all the children were on the beach. I felt awful that there was nothing I could do to help, but I just wasn’t around at the time.”

George and Rosie were told of their parents’ death on Monday night after receiving counselling from a hospital psychologist. Portuguese social services released them to the care of Mr Dinsmore.

Pedro Pereira, commander of the local maritime police, claimed that Praia do Tonel was closed for the winter and signs warned bathers that there were no lifeguards on duty.

“Because summer season is concluded by September 30, the Tonel beach is closed and there is no life-saving personnel. Reinforcing this, at the entry to the beach there is a sign to warn of this fact,” he said.

However, there are no signs about the beach closure and although the cove is popular with British holiday-makers the only sign warning about the lack of lifeguards was in Portuguese.

Mr Salvaterra said: “The problem is there are no signs to warn the tourists. The surfers always know where the dangerous water is, but the tourists don’t.

“The currents can be really strong, and when the tide comes in it often makes sandbanks to the left of the rock, which can create whirlpool currents near the rock when the tide goes out.

“It’s particularly dangerous at the beaches around here because the Med meets the Atlantic, meaning the waves can change quickly and people can get caught out.”

Mr Fry and his wife, who works for the Nationwide building society, live just 200 yards away from Mrs Dinsmore, a school governor, and her husband, a financial adviser, in Wootton Bassett near Swindon, Wiltshire. Mr Plumb, a BA crew manager, and his wife, an accountant, live in Swindon.

The Frys and Dinsmores had been staying at the Parque da Floresta golf and leisure resort in nearby Vila do Bispo while the Plumb family had been staying in a friend’s villa in Lagos, about 20 miles away.

In a joint statement the families of the three victims said: “We are deeply shocked by the events of yesterday and need time to come to terms with the loss of three of our loved ones.”

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