POLICE officers have been hailed heroes after rescuing and resuscitating a drowning woman from a lake in York.

The dramatic rescue occurred at Rawcliffe Lake at around 3.30am today, North Yorkshire Police said.

PC Ryan Innes and PC Ben Hallewell, response officers from the York Neighbourhood Policing Team, were alerted to the location following reports about a woman in a distressed state.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said when they arrived they spotted the woman in the middle of the lake and made the decision to wade out around 40 metres to prevent her from drowning.

"They recovered her to the edge of the water where Traffic Constable Richard Harrison, of the Roads Policing Group, carried out CPR on the unconscious woman" the spokesman added.

"Thankfully the woman, who is aged in her late 40s, had regained consciousness and was breathing when the ambulance arrived at the scene."

The woman is being treated at York Hospital.

Superintendent Adam Thomson, neighbourhood policing commander for York and Selby, said: "I can think of only one word to best describe the officers’ actions in this incident and that is ‘heroic’.

"Confronted with these desperate circumstances, they very quickly and bravely used their training to save the woman’s life.

"They are a credit to North Yorkshire Police and we can all be proud and thankful that we have such tremendously dedicated people in our local police service".

The officers will be nominated for bravery awards to recognise their actions in due course.