Boy, 11, and mother die in drowning tragedies

A MOTHER of three young children and a boy of 11 have drowned in separate heatwave tragedies.

The bodies of Leanne Gordon, 30, and schoolboy Subhaan Ali were recovered after searches by emergency services lasting several hours.

Miss Gordon had been enjoying a picnic and playing in the shallows of the Great Ouse, in Bedford, with her sons Lorenza, nine, Lascelle, five and Evan, three when she went into the water to rescue another swimmer who had got into difficulty.

Unconfirmed reports last night suggested she may have been trying to help one of her friend’s children who had started to struggle.

Locals reported hearing screams of ‘I can’t swim’.

A team of specialist divers spent the night searching for Miss Gordon, believed to have been a personal trainer, before finding her body yesterday morning.

Police said her three sons had witnessed their mother drowning on Thursday evening and had been left severely distressed by what happened.

Locals described the Great Ouse as ‘dangerous and murky’ and up to 20ft deep in places.

In a separate tragedy, Subhaan, 11, drowned in a canal in Yorkshire. He had been taking part in the craze known as ‘tombstoning’, which involves leaping off cliffs, piers and bridges and entering the water feet first.

The youngster had been playing with friends when he died after jumping almost 20ft from a metal bridge into the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal, in Rotherham. Friends ran to the schoolboy’s family home to raise the alarm and rescuers spent four hours searching for the football-loving youngster before his body was recovered at 11pm on Thursday.

Yesterday fire chiefs warned against taking part in the potentially lethal activity.

Gary Willoughby, of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said: ‘This 11-year-old boy was taking part in a pastime that boys of his age call tombstoning.

‘Unfortunately it is aptly named. It’s jumping from unknown heights into unknown depths of water. It’s a very dangerous pastime. Unfortunately this boy lost his life.’

According to figures from the UK Coastguard, there were 20 tombstoning deaths and 139 injuries between 2004 and 2013.