Three men are swept away in 4x4 as they film river crossing

THREE “off-roaders” died when their 4x4 car was submerged and swept away after they filmed themselves trying to cross a ford, locals have said.

The men had been attempting to cross the storm-swollen River Esk, on the North Yorkshire Moors on Thursday, when the tragedy happened.

Locals estimated the fast-flowing river was at a depth of 5ft at the crossing point and the water was even deeper downstream. The Land Rover the three were in was recovered about 300ft downstream. It is believed the three who drowned were in a group of several off-road driving enthusiasts making multiple crossings of fords in the area of Glaisdale, near Whitby.

The victims were named last night by North Yorkshire Police as Scott Thomas Daddy, 28, from Hull, Leslie Forbes, 70, from the East Yorkshire area, and Kenneth Patrick Hibbins, 59, from York.

The river crossing, known as Rake Ford, was the scene of a similar incident on Jan 15, 2021, when a 4x4 was swept away, although nobody died.

Benjamin Elliott said he raised the alarm when the 4x4 first got into difficulty. He said: “Reality is, they were messing around taking videos while going through the ford. Despite warnings not to, they continued.”

Log salesman Chris Ford, 30, was called by the fire service to attempt to pull the submerged Land Rover from the river, without success. He said: “It can rise or fall by feet very quickly. There were maybe a group of three or more 4x4s at the time... another vehicle in the group had tried to save them [but] the Land Rover was completely submerged. I managed to winch it out to the river bank.”

The stricken Land Rover was recovered 300ft downstream and eventually removed from the River Esk near Glaisdale, North Yorkshire