Swept to their deaths
Father dies in Cornwall after 10ft waves wash family off rocks ...as mother and 7-year-old son drown in the North Sea
A FATHER died and his two-yearold daughter was left fighting for her life last night after they were swept into the sea by 10ft waves in Newquay, Cornwall, yesterday.
And in a double tragedy, a mother and her son died after a day out at the beach in Aberdeen.
In Newquay, the RNLI and Coastguard managed to rescue the man’s partner, while the couple’s terrified sons looked on from rocks.
The family of five had walked to a rocky outcrop at Fistral Beach on Friday to watch a storm surge.
The group from Surrey, who were visiting the area, were unaware of the peril until a wave on the incoming tide broke over them.
Initially, all five managed to stay on the rocks.
But then a second huge wave swept the parents, both in their 30s, and their two-year-old daughter into the surf. As their two young sons looked on helplessly from the rocks, the parents and the little girl were sucked 65 yards from the shore.
RNLI lifeguards on Fistral Beach were 1,000 yards away and unable to see the danger the family had placed themselves in.
Alerted by Falmouth Coastguard, they launched a jet-ski and managed to recover the unconscious father and his frantic wife.
However, the treacherous surf meant that rescuers could not return both to the beach safely, so the man was transferred to a RNLI boat which had also been sent to the scene. Their little girl was pulled from the waves by a second boat.
The dead father has not been named. The girl remained in a critical condition last night.
The mother was pulled from the water with only minor injuries, while her sons managed to clamber to safety across the rocks.
In Aberdeen, a seven-year-old boy and 37-year-old woman died in hospital after a rescue operation on the city’s beach beach.
Emergency services were called to reports of five people in difficulty at around 4.45pm yesterday.
The woman and the boy, believed to be her son, later died.
A man aged 28, a woman aged 25, and 13-year-old boy remain in hospital for treatment.
Last night rescue teams pleaded with holidaymakers to keep away from rocks and clifftops during storms. One rescuer said: ‘Our advice is simple. Either watch from a safe distance or find something else to do.’