Man dies in rip tide tragedy

ONE man died and another was pulled unconscious from the sea after they were caught in a rip tide off the north Norfolk coast yesterday .

The 54-year-old swimmer was rescued by lifeguards but died later. The second man, 26, was flown to hospital and was last night in a serious condition.

Two other swimmers – a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 20s – also struggled in the water but made it to the shore at Sea Palling, 20 miles from Cromer.

The man who died was said to have been struggling in turbulent waters between two sandbanks.

The four got into difficulties about 800m away from the lifeguarded area, the RNLI said.

Jack Hood, RNLI lifeguard supervisor, said: “It appears these four men got into distress in the water because of one of the notorious rips that can occur off this coast.”

A witness going by the Twitter handle ‘NR2’ wrote: “Never seen so many emergency response vehicles in my life, coast road to sea palling, stay safe out there.”

The incident came as the heatwave continued.

Last week saw the hottest day of the year with the mercury hitting 28C.

The weekend is set to be the warmest of the year with bookies predicting July will be the hottest on record.