Four teenagers have tragically drowned in open water as Britain experienced a heatwave, prompting urgent warnings from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) about the dangers of swimming in cold temperatures.
The charity issued its caution on Tuesday, highlighting that despite record-breaking May temperatures over the recent bank holiday weekend, open water bodies remained dangerously cold.
This stark contrast can induce ‘cold water shock’, a severe physiological response. Cold water shock can trigger hyperventilation, a rapid increase in heart rate, and a spike in blood pressure.
In extreme instances, even strong swimmers can be overwhelmed and drown as their bodies struggle to cope with the sudden temperature change.
The RNLI said in a statement on Tuesday: “While the air temperature is warm, the seas are still cold and cold water shock remains a very real risk.
“With many school children enjoying half term, the lifesaving charity is urging everyone to stay safe.”
The warning comes after police forces in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Devon and Cornwall were all called out to separate fatal open water incidents involving four teenagers and one man in his 60s.
On Sunday, a body was found in the search for a boy who got into trouble in a lake in Lincoln.
Emergency services were called to Swanholme Lakes at 2.30pm on Sunday after reports that 15-year-old Declan Sawyer had entered the water and was missing.
Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon a 13-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam, near Halifax, West Yorkshire.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police said the teenage boy was pulled from the water and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
That same afternoon, a man in his 60s died of cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach, Padstow, to help two family members who had gotten into difficulty, Devon and Cornwall Police said. The two family members were brought to safety by members of the public.
On Monday evening, the body of a teenage girl was recovered from the water at Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire.
The body of a fourth teenager was recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park in the early hours of Tuesday morning after he went missing, South Yorkshire Police said.
A specialist search operation was launched following reports at 6.50pm on Monday that the boy had entered the water but had not been seen getting out.
On Tuesday afternoon, police in Lancashire said searches were ongoing after a boy, aged 12, got into difficulty while swimming with friends in a river in the Ribble Valley.
A body was later recovered from the River Ribble. The death is not being treated as suspicious, police say.
