A DRAMATIC sea rescue took place after two swimmers got into difficulties at a Dorset beauty spot yesterday.

The coastguard's search-and-rescue helicopter was scrambled after a member of the public dialled 999 to report that two men in their early twenties were 'drowning' at Durdle Door, near Lulworth Cove.

The Portland-based craft arrived on the scene just eight minutes after the alarm was raised, and crewmen were able to winch one of the swimmers to safety.

He was rushed to Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, where his condition was not thought to be critical. The other swimmer, also in his early twenties, had managed to make his own way ashore by the time the helicopter arrived, and Lulworth coastguards treated him for suspected hypothermia before an ambulance took him to hospital.

Weymouth Lifeboat was also put on standby, but was not required.

Coastguards fear that the men's lives would have been lost if the helicopter had been scrambled from Lee-on-Solent, as it could be under new Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) plans.

They also warn of delays in emergency response times if Portland's search-and-rescue craft is axed from the Lyme Bay area.

The watch manager for Portland coastguard, Derek Beacon, said: "This incident was very serious and this man would have died if it was not for the coastguard rescue helicopter being based at Portland."

He added: "It would take 30 or 40 minutes for a helicopter to reach Lulworth from Lee-on-Solent, and the bottom line is that guy would not have lived."

The helicopter's chief pilot, Mike Roughton, said: "This man was extremely lucky.

"As the swell was rising, he was disappearing under the surface and probably had less than a minute to go.

"The quick reaction of the helicopter crew saved his life and he would not have survived if he had to wait for a helicopter from Lee-on-Solent."

Coastguards also say the prevailing southwesterly wind would hinder a helicopter trying to reach Dorset from Hampshire.