TWO children are lucky to be alive this week after being dramatically rescued from rising flood water at Ambleside's Stock Ghyll.

Holidaymaker Alexandra Roland, nine, and her 12-year-old brother Max were plucked from the treacherous river behind the Salutaton Hotel in an operation involving police, firefighters, and medics from Ambleside, and Langdale Mountain Rescue Team.

The pair - who are understood to be from Newcastle and were staying with grandparents at a nearby holiday home - had been playing in the water just before being flushed downstream by a flood last Friday tea-time.

Salutation Hotel worker Liana Burt raised the alarm after discovering the children stranded on rocks with heavy flood water cascading around them.

Eye-witness Dr John Carnie photographed the rescue after hearing a commotion near his How Bank home.

He said: ''I realised attention was focused on a young girl, who was clearly in distress, stuck on a rock surrounded by swirling flood water.''

Max was rescued first, but a firefighters' ladder was needed to reach Alexandra.

Both children were uninjured, but were said to be in shock following the incident, as were their grandparents, who had let them play in the river.

Chief Insp Andy Bell, of Kendal police, praised the efforts of rescuers and added: ''I think this is a salutary warning that things may not be as they seem with rivers and that caution is needed.''

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