Two snorkellers were saved in an incident at a Southampton beach last week, according to news organisations in the United States.

However, a representative with the Maritime Operations Centre in Bermuda was not able to find a report of the incident at Church Bay when contacted yesterday.

According to Massachusetts newspaper The Enterprise, Allen Yannone, of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was at the Southampton beach with his wife on Tuesday when he heard a woman calling for help.

The woman told Mr Yannone that her husband and her sister-in-law had become trapped against a rock while snorkelling.

Mr Yannone told The Enterprise: “I said to her, ‘I’m going to get them and I’ll be right back’.

“I went into the water and as I’m swimming over I noticed there was a couple on the other side of a rock face about 20-30 yards into the water.

“They were trying to stay on it and the waves were hitting them.”

Mr Yannone said the pair was “bloody and cut up”.

He used a life vest to help get them back to the shore.

Mr Yannone said it was not until he arrived back home in the US and received a call from his mother that he learnt news of the rescue had made it on to social media.

He said that he saw a picture that had been snapped of the three after the rescue when he logged into Facebook.

Mr Yannone said: “It was the coolest feeling to know these people really wanted to reach out and that just means the world to me.”

He told The Enterprise that he did not see himself as a hero.

Mr Yannone added: “If anyone takes anything away, it’s just do the right thing.”