Three more deaths at the seaside

THREE people have drowned in the latest spate of seaside tragedies, taking the total deaths off Britain’s coast in August to 15.

A scuba diver was killed trying to rescue his partner’s daughter, 12, on Cornwall’s south coast on Tuesday evening.

The 43-year-old was pulled lifeless from a cove near the hamlet of Portholland.

Locals said the unnamed man was on holiday with his family. The girl was airlifted to hospital in Plymouth, but her condition was not thought to be serious.

Julia McIntosh, 47, of Portholland, said: ‘It was pretty harrowing … The partner and kids were obviously devastated … One of the girls told me that her sister had got into difficulties and he had gone to help her but then just disappeared under the water.’

Jago Bayley, 15, was hailed a hero for trying to save the man’s life. His mother Julie Flack, 46, said: ‘He dived down and brought the man up from the seabed.’

In another incident, Liam Hall, 17, of Sunderland, died after taking a dinghy out on the Wear with another boy, also 17, and two girls on Tuesday. They got into difficulty at the mouth of the river and had to be rescued from the sea. Liam later died in hospital.

Two men were pulled from the water at Aberystwyth harbour yesterday after their empty speedboat was spotted. One died in hospital. Elsewhere, the body of a 15-yearold boy was recovered from the Thames in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.