A BASSALEG father-of-three risked his own life to help save two young boys from drowning.

David Harding, 43, was nearing the end of a Tŷ Hafan fundraising bike ride from Brecon to Cardiff Bay at around 4pm on Sunday, when he heard a child scream on the Taff river embankment.

He said: “I expected to see a toy or something floating in the river, but instead I saw a child crying on the embankment and two young boys submerged in the water.”

The rest of Mr Harding’s group were ahead of him on the trail. Pulling off his rucksack and helmet, Mr Harding dashed into the deep water.

When he reached the two boys, aged around five and seven, they were lying face down.

Mr Harding grabbed the boy closet to him. He was unconscious and Mr Harding tried desperately to resuscitate him while treading water.

Mr Harding couldn't find a clear spot on the bank but was able to find some hard-footing to stand on while he continued to resuscitate the boy. Meanwhile, he had to look in horror as the other boy drifted out of reach.

After five or ten minutes, a water taxi came by and the two men onboard pulled the two boys and Mr Harding onboard.

Mr Harding and the men on the boat were able to continue resuscitating the boys while making their way to paramedics, who were now awaiting on land.

Mr Harding said: “They were blue and limp and I just didn’t know what was going to happen.

“But to see them coming back to life - you’re just crying with happiness.”

Once on the bank, the boys’ distraught mother rushed over to thank Mr Harding, who then left to find his family.

He later called Cardiff's Heath hospital and was told the boys had pulled through.

But Mr Harding remains modest about his actions, saying the boys would not have survived without the men on the water taxi and the paramedics.

He added: “I don’t think I was heroic, anyone with young children would have had the same instincts.”

But Mr Harding's wife, Sally Harding, 42, and children, Miles,10, and twins Elliot and Alex, 5, are proud of his actions, Mrs Harding said: "I'm very proud of him. He's a kind-hearted person and always does things to help other people but to do something like this and put his own life at risk is amazing."