Two teenage friends told how they escaped death by seconds after sinking into deep coastal mudflats which dragged them down like quicksand.

One was left with just his head above the muddy sand and was just about to go under when coastguard and lifeboat crews came to his rescue.

Brendon Baker and Rhys Sinclair ran into trouble as they tested an old dinghy to make sure it was fit for the water before selling it at a car boot fair.

But the dinghy started to sink as the tide turned and threatened to carry the two 13-year-old pupils from Ratton Secondary School, Eastbourne, out to sea.

They decided to jump on to the wet muddy sand and head for shore but the mud pulled them straight down.

Brendon was still sinking with his arms trapped beneath the sodden sand at Sovereign Harbour by the time coastguards arrived at 8.20am on Sunday. Rhys managed to make it to the shore after sinking up to his thighs and clambering to the shingle.

They shouted for help as they jumped off the dinghy and a passer-by spotted them and called the coastguard just in time.

They had hoped Rhys could struggle to shore while Brendon held on to the dinghy as their new shoes and mobile phones were inside but he quickly sank up to his neck When the lifeboats arrived, both boys were suffering the onset of hypothermia and the crews alerted police and paramedics.

Coastguards told Brendon's parents that if crews had arrived moments later, it would have been too late.

Rhys' mother Julie Sinclair, 44, of Seaside, Eastbourne, said:

"We are laughing and joking now but it was really serious. Rhys was so white when he came home."

The adventure started when they put the dinghy on the water and climbed in. They did not have oars and the tide carried them out.

Rhys said: "I jumped out of the dinghy and began running up the shore. I was sinking fast and was up to my thighs by the time I scrambled for the stones and pulled myself out.

"When I looked back Brendon had jumped out too but was holding on to the dinghy. He was really sinking fast."

Brendon, of St Lucia Walk, Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, said: "I was up to my neck, still sinking."

Mrs Sinclair, caretaker at the Territorial Army Centre, on Seaside, Eastbourne, said: "Rhys said he is not going near the sea again."