BLACKPOOL, England -- Henry the terrier dog bounded into the sea to fetch his ball -- but he dragged his master and three police officers to their deaths in a vain rescue bid on a storm-lashed vacation beach.
'No one thought of himself but everyone else's life seemed precious,' a senior police officer said Wednesday after the bizarre incident.
It all began when Alistair Anthony, 25, took his dog for a walk on the promenade at Blackpool, Britain's most popular northern resort, 260 miles northwest of London.
Suddenly, the Jack Russell terrier leaped into the gale-lashed sea off the promenade to save his ball and got swept out amid 20-foot waves.
The owner jumped in the water to save the dog. Then two policemen and a policewoman followed to try to save Anthony. All were drowned.
Another policeman who waded into the churning sea was plucked out half-drowned 'like a trout on the end of a line,' a colleague said. A fifth officer was hospitalized after staggering out of the foaming waters.
'I was amazed by the bravery of the police,' Anthony's father, Robert Anthony, told reporters on Wednesday. 'It was terrible out there. They just stripped off and walked into the sea.'
Minutes earlier, he had tried to save his son, 6-foot-4 and a strong swimmer, by grabbing a life preserver on the promenade. But the rope was too short and he sent two boys for the police.
Two officers sped to the scene. 'I tried to warn the policemen just how dangerous it was to go in,' the father said. 'But they were so brave -- they didn't hesitate.'
Soon there were three policemen in the water. 'But the current was so strong they couldn't get back. It was like a bad dream. All I could see was the three of them bobbing around in the water and there was nothing I could do.
'Then more and more police came, and they were all going in and getting into the same difficulties.'
Policewoman Angela Bradley, 23, and policemen Colin Morrison, 38, married with four children, and Gordon Connolly, 24, married last year, all drowned.
Two other officers were in the hospital. Patrick Abram, 26, waslisted as critically ill and Martin Hewitson was under sedation.
Only Morrison's body had been recovered by late Wednesday. There was no sign of Henry the dog or his master.
