Firefighters rescued two boys and their father Sunday from Hanakāpī'ai after they got swept into the surf by a strong current, Kaua'i officials said.

The boys, ages 10 and 12, and their father were on vacation from Bend, Ore., and were hiking to Hanakāpī'ai Beach. They were cutting up fruit to eat when one of the boys was swept into the surf by a current. The other boy tried to help but got swept out as well, officials said.

The 43-year-old father grabbed a rescue tube that was in the area and jumped into the water. He placed one of his sons on the rescue tube and the current swept them around a bend toward a cave, authorities said. The father put one of his sons in the cave and told him to climb up as high as he could while he went back out into the water searching for the second son.

He found the second son clinging onto rocks. The father and son made it to safety inside the cave, where they clung to rocks while waiting for rescuers.

Rescuers had trouble reaching them because the waves were too big for a vessel to safely approach the cave at 3:10 p.m. Two firefighters in the Zodiac, swam into the cave to save the trio by bringing them out one at a time to Tunnels Beach.

The father was brought into Hanakāpī'ai Beach where Air 1 rescue specialists picked him up using a Billy Pugh net and brought him to Ke'e Beach.