A heroic grandfather who lost his life while attempting to save his nine-year-old granddaughter from drowning has been identified as Phil Crow, 68. The incident occurred at Tregirls Beach, near Padstow in Cornwall, on Bank Holiday Monday.
Tragic Rescue Attempt
Mr Crow entered the water to rescue his granddaughter, Sia Briskham, who got into difficulty after a sudden change in the tide. According to reports, Mr Crow suffered a cardiac arrest while in the sea. His wife Tina, 68, and their granddaughter were rescued by a passing boat and brought to safety, but medics pronounced the retired stonemason dead at the scene.
Family's Heartbreaking Account
Mrs Crow spoke of her husband's bravery, stating: "We were jumping up with the waves then all of a sudden we couldn't hit the floor when we landed, it was deeper and was pulling us out. He was shouting at her to lay on her back but she couldn't stand, he pushed her to safety, but doing so meant he couldn't get back himself. He was pushing her feet and just shouting swim, swim, swim."
Mr Crow leaves behind his wife of more than 50 years, 11 siblings, and five grandchildren.
Bank Holiday Weekend Water Fatalities
Mr Crow was one of eight people who lost their lives in open water over the Bank Holiday weekend, as the UK experienced record-breaking high temperatures. Other victims included:
- Declan Sawyer, discovered during a search of Swanholme Lakes near Lincoln on Sunday.
- Abbie Carmody-Pepper, 15, who died while bathing at Burrow Beach in Sutton, Dublin.
- A teenage girl, identified locally as Lil, whose body was recovered from Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire.
- Reco Puttock, 13, who drowned in Leadbeater Dam near Halifax, West Yorkshire.
- A 12-year-old boy whose body was recovered from the River Ribble in Lancashire.
- A teenage boy who got into trouble in Rotherham and was found after a search and rescue operation.
- A 17-year-old who went missing while swimming in open water in Cheshire, with a body later found.
Calls for Improved Water Safety
Professor Karen Luyt, Programme Director for the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) and Professor of Neonatal Medicine at the University of Bristol, emphasised the need for better education. She said: "The tragic cases of drowning are shocking - but unfortunately not surprising. NCMD data from a recent thematic report on traumatic deaths showed that over half of child deaths due to drowning occurred in the summer months, and around 37 per cent were in inland bodies of water like rivers or lakes. 196 children died by drowning between 2019 and 2025, and all of those deaths were preventable."
She added: "There's so much more that could be done to keep children safe. For the last three years the NCMD has been calling for an urgent and focused agenda to address inequalities in access to swimming and water safety lessons. Our data shows that children living in the most deprived neighbourhoods are disproportionately the victims of drowning, and this sets a clear scope for interventions that could be quickly deployed to make a difference. Practical and experiential learning, as well as water safety programmes outdoors, have been shown to support water safety."
