Two girls were saved from drowning in rough waters after quick-thinking local residents hurled out a space hopper toy for them to cling on to.

The teenagers managed to grab the inflatable toy and then hang on to a more conventional lifebuoy that had also been flung out to them before a lifeboat arrived to pluck them from the raging sea.

The girls' screams for help were heard by bricklayer Matthew Gribble, 24, from his flat in Dawlish, Devon, on Saturday evening. He ran to the seawall and dashed across a railway line with his friends Andrew Riches and Leigh Larratt. They threw lifebuoys to the terrified girls but could not reach them.

Another neighbour then came out with the space hopper and the toy was hurled by Gribble into the sea.

Larratt said: "One of my neighbours, Shane, brought out a space hopper. Matt – with a brilliant throw – got it right next to the girls and they managed to get hold of the space hopper for a long enough time to get hold of the lifebuoy. The space hopper saved the day."

Gribble said: "They were fighting for their lives when we arrived after hearing their screams from my flat. We grabbed torpedo lifesaving buoys and threw them to the girls.

"They were shouting for help and kept bobbing up from under the waves. The sea was really rough and they kept going under every few seconds. We thought they were going to drown."

The girls, 15 and 16, were pulled out of the water by a lifeboat crew.

Lifeboat helmsman Giles White said: "A few more minutes and the girls would most likely have drowned. They were so near to dying. Any longer and we would have been pulling out bodies."

Brixham coastguard watch manager Dave Scullion said: "These two girls are incredibly lucky. They owe their lives to the quick thinking of a group of boys on scene."