Dramatic footage shows how brave passers-by rescued a mother and her three children from a raging river after they were swept away while washing their laundry.

The family were cleaning their clothes in the water on the banks of the Tamugan river in Davao City, the Philippines on October 14, when a sudden torrent engulfed them.

They managed to grab hold of the concrete posts of a bridge but were stranded as the current was too strong to return to the shore.

However, fireman Joker Linao and passing truck driver Mark Anthony delos Reyes were able rappel down one side of the bridge, grab the family one-by-one, then re-emerge on the other side of the bridge to take hold of a dangling rope. Men standing above then pulled them up to safety.

The rescue took place in three stages with the two oldest children being carried up first followed by the mother and a baby on the last attempt.

The mother, Karen Bungalan, said: ''I was standing on the river bank with my children. We were washing our clothes when the water suddenly grew bigger. It was up my waist and it just pulled us away.''

Karen's arm was dislocated during the rescue, but all of the family survived with nothing but minor scrapes.

Anthony delos Reyes, the truck driver who helped, said: ''We heard shouts from under the bridge and saw them there. We immediately looked for ropes so we can go down.''