'I almost died in the sea, I still see the waves when I close my eyes'

A woman says she thought she wasn't going to survive after being injured in a terrifying surfing accident. Anouska Cassells says the near-death ordeal that almost saw her drown.

“The ocean turned on me in an instant,” said the 41-year-old parenting coach, from Derbyshire. “One moment I was surfing, the next I was ripped away from the shore, caught in a deadly rip current with an undertow. At first, I clung to my surfboard.

“It felt like my lifeline - my best friend out there. And truthfully, I thought about the cost too. I didn’t want to let it go. But soon, the board became my enemy.

• 'I was too big to fit on US theme park rides on holiday, so I lost 25 stone'
• How the 2025 Ryder Cup was won: Three crucial moves Europe made to ensure victory

“Waves smashed it against me, the leash yanked me under, and my wetsuit filled with water like an anchor pulling me into the deep. I made the desperate choice to dive under and unclip the ankle strap.

“That’s when the ocean truly showed its power.”

Anouska’s ordeal didn’t stop there. She said: “I was thrown into what’s called the ‘washing machine effect’ - a plunging wave current, a circular undertow. I was whipped round and round in total darkness, my body slammed and spun with no sense of up or down.

“Most people know the advice ‘float to live’ in water, but this was different. In a rip current with an undertow, floating will only drag you further from shore. The safest thing to do is curl into a ball, protect your head, hold your breath, and surrender until the turbulence releases you.”

But even that didn’t help. She said: “Eventually, the wave energy dissipates - and only then can you swim diagonally out of the impact zone. But in that moment, I didn’t know. My instinct told me to fight, to surface, to float - but the ocean pulled me further out.

“My lungs burned. My arms failed me. I felt humiliated that I wasn’t strong enough, embarrassed that I couldn’t even gather my thoughts for the survival tactics I knew deep down. And then came the chilling realisation: I might not survive this.”

Anouska’s friends rushed to help and pulled her to safety. She said: “When I finally broke the surface, I screamed - the last of my strength poured into that cry. By a miracle, my friend heard me. Wearing a life jacket, he fought his way in and dragged me to safety.

“That night, my throat burned, and I couldn’t shake the fear of secondary drowning. I searched online through NHS 111 guidance, checking symptoms and red flags, monitoring myself closely.

“For a couple of days, my throat hurt, but thankfully, I was okay. The fear, though, lingers.”

Even now, the beach still gives Anouska the shivers. She said: “Even now, when I close my eyes, I see the waves. My breath quickens, my body remembers the panic.

“Luckily, I teach mindfulness to parents every day - and in those moments, I have to call on the very skills I teach: grounding myself, slowing my breath, calming the storm inside, even when I can’t calm the storm outside. That day changed me.

“It taught me that calmness and resilience are powerful, but survival sometimes means letting go, surrendering, and allowing someone else to hold you when the current is too strong.

“I went to the pool at the weekend and I found it extremely hard and had flashbacks. I haven’t been in the sea since.”