A man who dove into rough seas to try to save one of the Fistral Beach victims has described how he too nearly drowned. Jamie Stockwell, 47, threw himself in fully clothed on Sunday evening after a woman aged in her 30s and a man in his 60s, believed to be daughter and father, fell from rocks into the water at Fistral Beach in Newquay.
Desperate rescue attempt
Stockwell told The Sun: “I jumped in with all my clothes on. I didn’t realise how deep it was. It was very powerful swell, and I was lucky I wasn’t another casualty.” He said the woman was being battered against the rocks by the strong swell. “We were being hurled on to the rocks. I managed to push her up and her boyfriend pulled her up by the arms and started to try to give her mouth-to-mouth.”
“She had swallowed loads of salt water. We tried to give her CPR for about ten minutes. I was trying to keep her partner calm as he was in pieces.” The woman's father was pulled from the water nearby and also given CPR, but both died. The pair were part of a family on holiday in Cornwall.
Witness accounts
Another bystander, beach artist Sand Phoenix, 33, said he “sprinted” to help, administering an adrenaline pen and trying to give oxygen to the man. “He had been pulled out of the water but had been in there about seven minutes. The paramedics arrived and carried on trying to give CPR. He was still wearing his trousers so I don’t think he had been swimming. It looks like they had been walking near the rocks and had fallen in.”
A further witness told The Sun: “A woman was desperately trying to ring someone but couldn’t get through [and] was in tears. There was a helicopter overhead and there was a lifeboat in the water. They recovered one body on the beach, while the other one was brought up the cliff. Another man came up soaking wet and in a foil blanket. He knew them and had been trying to help. I’m just in shock, it was awful to watch.”
Police appeal for handbag
Following the deaths, police urged the public to search for a “leather-style” handbag about 30cm by 30cm worn by the woman at the time. The bag, described as “orange or peach in colour”, contains sentimental items that grieving family members “would take great comfort in being reunited with,” police said in a statement.
