Three die in tragic swims
TEENS were last night mourning the loss of a pal in the latest of a spate of holiday drownings.
Liam Hall died after getting into trouble swimming from a dinghy in the sea.
The 17-year-old, from Sunderland, had got into difficulty at the mouth of the River Wear after heading out in the boat with three other teenagers.
Tributes flooded social media yesterday, with one saying: “RIP Liam, you were such a lovely lad with a heart of gold. God only takes the best. Fly high boyo.”
A man drowned and a 12-year-old girl is in hospital after a scuba diving trip went wrong.
Emergency services rushed to Portholland, on Cornwall’s south coast, after the 45-year-old diver was hauled onto the shore by other holidaymakers. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.
The girl is believed to be his partner’s daughter.
Police Supt Ian Drummond Smith said: “The family are believed to have been holidaying.”
A schoolboy also drowned trying to swim across the River Thames.
The 15-year-old waded into the river to swim to the other side near Sunbury Lock, at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Friends raised the alarm after the boy disappeared beneath the surface. Divers found his body two hours later.
In a separate incident, one man died and another was pulled from the sea after an out-of-control 16ft speedboat was found circling around Aberystwyth Harbour, west Wales.
The rescued man was in a stable condition in hospital last night, said a spokesman for Dyfed Powys Police.