Henry Duggan was playing on the beach just yards away from his mum Ashton in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, US, over the weekend.

Ashton was filming her son having fun in the sand when their family day at the beach came close to turning sinister.

In the clip, the tot can be seen kneeling down with his back towards the camera before standing up and walking towards his parents.

The stray umbrella suddenly cuts through the shot and heads directly towards the toddler with its spikey end facing him.

But thanks to the boy’s surprisingly quick thinking, he swerves and dodges the umbrella by a few inches.

Ashton told Fox46: “Out of nowhere this umbrella just flies and misses him probably by six inches. It was terrifying.

“When that happened, I didn’t know what to do.

“I think I threw down my phone and said ‘oh my gosh,’ and I just ran.”

And though the young boy escaped unscathed, his mother was left badly shaken by the incident.

She said the lifeguard who planted the umbrella in the sand rushed over to apologise and cried.

Ashton said the lifeguard’s tears came from a flashback after he witnessed a woman die on the beach last year from the same type of accident.

The woman is now hoping to raise awareness of the dangers umbrellas pose.

She added: “I hope to save a life this summer and summers to come.”

It comes after a mum died after being speared by a flying beach parasol while sunbathing.

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