A mum has spoken of her horror after her son was swept a mile out to sea on a dinghy.

April Lewis was forced to watch as Tommy, 11, was taken out by the current off the coast of Dungeness.

Watch: RNLI crews rescue Tommy from the sea

The pair travelled from Ashford to the beach on Tuesday to spend some time in the sun with friends when the dramatic scenes that evening.

"After the wind picked up at 7pm, we decided to go home," Ms Lewis explained.

"But Tommy decided to have one last jump on the inflatable dinghy, which was on the stones by the edge of the water.

"When he jumped in, it was taken by a wave and then the current swept him out to sea."

One member of the group attempted to swim out to grab the inflatable boat, but couldn't make it in time, and the group watched on in horror as the schoolboy was carried further away from shore.

"We were shouting at him to stay on the raft no matter what, because he is not a strong swimmer," Ms Lewis added.

"But he then disappeared from sight and I thought, wholeheartedly, that he was not going to make it back.

"I can't even begin to describe the emotions at that point – so many people have asked me, but it was just a blur."

The RNLI launched a boat to reach the young man, but struggled to locate him.

It was not until a yacht, which had relaunched after pulling into shore and hearing about the incident, located him and radioed his location.

"I re-live that day every night."

Footage released from the charity shows the dramatic moment Tommy was rescued, having been surrounded by nothing except blue water for an hour.

"I re-live that day every night, as does everyone who was involved," his mum said.

"If he hadn't done the right thing and stayed still, I don't know what would have happened.

"I don't even have the words to thank the yacht crew and the RNLI for saving my boy. I know there are a lot more stories out there without happy endings."

Volunteer RNLI crew member, Stuart Richardson, said that Tommy "did the right thing" in staying in the boat and not trying to swim back to shore.

"When we reached him, he was very cold and scared but otherwise well and we warmed him up with blankets, biscuits, and a drink before reuniting him with his parents," he added.

"He was found more than a mile offshore which shows just how quickly an offshore wind can blow an inflatable out to sea so we would encourage people visiting the coast to always check which way the wind is blowing before entering the sea.

"Also by choosing a lifeguarded beach where possible and swimming between the red and yellow flags it means our highly-trained lifeguards can keep a watchful eye over those enjoying the water."