Rescuers saved a man and his two sons from drowning off Germany's North Sea coast after they were hit by a freak tide on Friday evening, the German Maritime Search and Rescue Association (DGzRS) said on Saturday.

The 39-year-old father and his two sons, ages 9 and 15, were walking along the mudflats near the municipality of Butjadingen in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony when the tide hit them.

A DGzRS helicopter located the trio after a group of people heard them struggling in the water shortly before 11 p.m. local time (0900 UTC).

"The children's panic was indescribable," said lead rescuer Harmut Dierks, whose boat team found the father propping his children up while neck-deep in the water.

"The man couldn't have lasted another 5 minutes in that tidal current," he said. "The rescue occurred at the last possible minute."

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