Wills rescue agony as teen dies in lake

FRANTIC SEARCH BY PILOT PRINCE

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PRINCE William was devastated when a lad he was trying to rescue drowned.

The Duke of Cambridge was scrambled after reports that a 17-year-old boy was missing in the water.

Flying low over a lake, he landed an air ambulance and leapt out to join the search.

But after an hour, the body of the teenager was pulled from the water. The schoolboy – who was named locally as Robbie Lea – was pronounced dead at the scene.

A witness said: “We knew something was up when a helicopter was flying extremely low.

“We could see it was landing so ran over to see what was going on. Little did we expect to see Prince William himself flying the helicopter.

Surreal

“It was a very surreal moment when he left the helicopter to help with the search and rescue, he had no visible guards or protection.

“He arrived in an East Anglia Air Ambulance with one other co-pilot.”

Paramedics and a water rescue team from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service also attended the incident at Lee Valley Park in Cheshunt, on Thursday evening.

A pal of the victim said: “He was trying to swim to an island and got into trouble. The two boys he was with tried to save him, but there was nothing they could do.”

A Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said: “A search led by the fire service was carried out.

“The boy was recovered from the water but sadly he was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Lee Valley Park is a 10,000acre space running through the north-east of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire and includes a network of rivers, canals and lakes.