A 13-year-old girl has become the 17th person to die in water-related incidents since the beginning of the heatwave, sparking new warnings over the dangers of open-water swimming. The child, who has not been named, was pulled from the River Wharfe near Skipton, North Yorkshire, on Sunday evening. She was airlifted to hospital but later died.
Earlier on Saturday, a woman in her 60s died after entering the water in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, while trying to rescue her pet dog. A man in his 60s remains in a critical condition. The dog was recovered safely. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the woman's death.
Other recent fatalities include 15-year-old Chiedza Nyanjowa, who died after swimming at Formby Beach in Merseyside on Bank Holiday Monday, and 16-year-old Lilliana Tomlinson, who died after getting into difficulty in a river near Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire. A 19-year-old man also died after entering Balderton Lake in Nottinghamshire on Thursday.
Since the heatwave began on May 22, a total of 17 people have died in water-related incidents across the UK, including in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cornwall, Hampshire, Cheshire, Pembrokeshire, Lincolnshire, and Lancashire. A search is also under way for an 11-year-old boy missing in the River Don in Yorkshire, and a child is believed to be missing in the River Wharfe in the Yorkshire Dales.
The RNLI has urged the public to swim only in supervised locations and has issued safety advice. The hot weather has drawn large crowds to open-water swimming spots, leading to a series of tragic incidents.
