This is the moment the Australian police rescue a father and his twin sons in the sea as they cling onto their sinking vessel after it took on water from a freak wave.

The incident took place off the coast of Dawesville just south of Perth in the state of Western Australia at around 5pm on 14th August.

Carl Pries, 39, and his twin sons aged nine were fishing in the fibreglass vessel when a freak wave hit and the five-foot-long boat started to take on water.

Pries later said: “Within about three seconds, the boat had just erected itself and slowly sank.”

He added: “When your boys turn around and ask if you’re going to die out there, it’s pretty hard.”

The father said they waited for nearly two hours before the authorities arrived.

According to 9News, the father saw their handheld marine VHF radio floating past while clinging onto the sinking vessel with his sons, and managed to grab it. He was able to make an emergency call just before 5pm.

Pries also had to dive down to retrieve the vessel’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) so the authorities could locate their position.

He said: “It was a good 20 minutes in the water before I could actually breathe back to dive down and grab the EPIRB downstairs.

“They (his twin sons) did not want me to perish to get it, but I had to.”

According to reports, the Water Police, the Police Air Wing, and members of the Mandurah Volunteer Marine Rescue service were sent to the scene.

Rescuers in a police helicopter saw the family in the sea nearly 20 miles off the coast of Dawesville and they were soon lifted onto a police boat.

The family was taken to a nearby health centre to undergo treatment for jellyfish stings and hypothermia, according to 9News.

Police spokesperson Troy Pillage said “the result could have been very different” if the father did not manage to get hold of the handheld VHF radio.