A husband almost drowned trying to rescue his school teacher wife when she was swept out to sea while on holiday in Greece.

Much-loved head of English and Drama Susan Huntington got into difficulty in the shallows of a golden beach on the island of Peleponnese when her desperate husband swam out to save her.

Without any visable warning signs on the beach and in calm weather conditions, the mother-of-two was swept out to sea by an over-powering rip current.

The 47-year-old drowned about 100 metres out to sea as the family enjoyed a half-term break at the Kakovatos resort.

Frantic attempts by husband Bill to save her ended in tragedy. He narrowly escaped death himself, eventually struggling back to the shore exhausted where he collapsed.

He was taken to hospital shortly afterwards as the emergency services arrived on the scene of the tragedy last Thursday.

Mr Huntington and the couple's two daughter's, believed to be aged four and eight, flew back to the UK last Friday.

The family, who moved to the picturesque seaside resort of Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, from Staffordshire, were too upset to talk.

Head teacher of private Fyling Hall School Stuart Barnett lead the tributes to the popular teacher.

"We feel like we have lost a member of our family.

"Although we hadn't known Susan long, she was very much 'one of us', and we miss her deeply.

"She was a superb teacher who gave so much to her pupils.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bill, her husband, and the rest of the family.

"Her pupils have told us that they loved the fact that she read to them and 'did all the voices'.

"She used to tell them ghost stories at the end of the lesson and into the break. She was always smiling and lit up the classrooms with her personality."

Pupil Laura Waters, 16, said: "She was a caring teacher and was genuinely concerned about us and our work. We are all going to miss her."

Nina Kirk, 13, said: "Mrs Huntington was a very cool teacher. She made boring things like punctuation and grammer fun by just doing the basics and getting us to remember them with a story or a joke."

Stuart Williamson, 13, said: "She was always very kind in lessons and out of lessons. She was always smiling and would mix learning with fun."