Sunderland striker Duncan Watmore saved the lives of three people after a boat crash while on holiday in Barbados in February.

The 23-year-old was aboard a fishing boat when it was hit and broken in two after colliding with a catamaran which “ploughed straight into the boat and ripped it in half” according to his father, Ian.

Three elderly passengers – one of whom had just had a hip replacement, one who couldn’t swim and one who was over 80 years old – were also on the boat and Watmore managed to haul all of them out of the water moments before it sank.

“They saw it and just assumed it was going to go round them and, when they realised it was coming straight at them, they started yelling and screaming but nothing changed,” the Sunderland forward’s father said.

Watmore will be out for the rest of the season with his injury (Getty)

“These catamarans are quite powerful and the blade just ripped the thing in half.”

Watmore is currently out injured with a cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained in December and was in Barbados recovering with his girlfriend.

According to his father, Watmore climbed onto the catamaran and lifted the trio, as well as the skipper of the fishing boat, out of the water before it sank and then used his t-shirt to bandage a woman’s leg which was “bleeding heavily”.