Humberside Police are conducting an extensive search and rescue operation to find a 13-year-old boy who got into difficulty swimming in the sea off the East Yorkshire coast on Tuesday evening.
The boy was swimming in the sea off the South Promenade area of Hornsea when police received reports of a concern for his safety at around 6pm.
Emergency response
Chief Superintendent Phil Booker said: “After receiving the report, officers were immediately deployed alongside other emergency services and upon attending, it was discovered that a 13-year-old boy had reportedly got into difficulty whilst swimming in the water.”
Specialist Police Search Advisors (POLSA), the Marine Unit, and drone pilots have been deployed to assist in the search. The public are urged to avoid the area to allow emergency services to work efficiently and safely.
Booker added: “We would urge people to please avoid the area where possible to allow emergency services to work efficiently and safely, and refrain from speculating on the circumstances of the incident.”
Ongoing search
Footage and photographs from the scene show a lifeboat on the sea and an HM Coastguard helicopter circling above. The search operation is continuing.
This incident follows the drowning of a 14-year-old boy in east London on Monday. The Metropolitan Police were called at about 6.48pm to reports that a boy had entered the Millwall Outer Dock near East Ferry Road on the Isle of Dogs. Despite efforts, the boy was retrieved from the river at 10.30pm and pronounced dead.
Tuesday’s incident occurred less than 20 miles from where 15-year-old Grace Keeling was swept out to sea in January. Grace died at Withernsea, along with her mother, Sarah Keeling, 45, and local man Mark Ratcliffe, 67, who went into the water to help her. An inquest heard in May that they immediately got into difficulties. Grace’s body was found 13 days later trapped among giant boulders used for sea defences.
According to Press Association estimates, at least 39 deaths have been reported this summer from open-water incidents. The National Water Safety Forum reported 202 water-related fatalities across the whole of last year in the UK, with 2026 data not due until May next year.
