A father died trying to save his children who were caught in treacherous tides as a family day out at the beach ended in a double tragedy.
The dad ran into the sea after two of his kids got into difficulties, but he was swept away himself and drowned along with a second man who had been walking his dog along the beach with his partner.
Both children, a boy and girl, escaped unharmed thanks in part to the efforts of other beachgoers.
The tragedy unfolded at around 3.45pm on Sunday at Seaton Carew beach, near Hartlepool, County Durham, as stiff breezes made the sea rough and choppy.
The family had been on a day out from Shildon, County Durham, and had been enjoying their afternoon on the beach until their two younger children got into trouble.
Painter and decorator Davey Short, 48, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, helped to rescue one of the children, needing two attempts to pull him from the waves.
Despite his heroic actions, he said it was simply ‘what any man in my position would do’.
Mr Short said: ‘There were three children at the beach with their mam and dad, a boy aged 15, a second boy aged 11 or 12 and a younger girl.
Davey Short, 48, said the boy was aged around 12 or 13 and had been playing in the waves when he got swept out to sea
‘The two younger kids were in the sea and they’d started to struggle in the waves.
‘I had taken a stroll along the beach from my mother’s home nearby and was planning to have a dip but the sea looked a bit choppy and rough so I sat down on a sand dune looking out to sea
‘I realised that there was a child in some trouble they were getting buffeted by the waves and as I looked I saw a second figure next to the boy and he was face down in the water.
‘At first I thought he was snorkelling but I realised something had gone wrong. I discovered afterwards that the father of the children had gone in to rescue them and had been swept off and he didn’t get back out.
‘A second man had also gone in and he drowned as well. He was a guy who had been out walking his dog with his partner and he ran in to help. She saw the whole thing, it’s devastating to think about that.
‘I was the third person to go into the water. The children’s mother was on the beach, she was hysterical and asking if I could help because she couldn’t swim.
‘Her eldest son had gone into the water as well to try to rescue his brother and sister but they were still out there.
‘I managed to swim out and get hold of the boy. I told him, “swim to me, swim to me”, and I managed to grab hold of his hand and pull him towards the shore.
‘The waves were strong and they were pushing us around and I lost my grip but with the help of another guy I got hold of him a second time and managed to get him to the shore.’
Mr Short said the father of the children was in the water for around 40 minutes before he was finally brought out of the water by rescuers from the RNLI.
‘I felt for those children and for their mum, they saw it all happen, and it’s something that will never leave any of us,’ he added.
‘I didn’t sleep a wink last night, every time I closed my eyes I could see the man in the water.
‘They were just a nice, normal family having a day out at the beach on a lovely hot day and this happened out of the blue.’
Police attend the scene at Seaton Crew Beach in Hartlepool, County Durham, after the two men drowned
Mr Short claimed it had taken emergency services around 40 minutes to attend the scene – leaving him no choice but to risk his life to rescue the child
Yesterday Superintendent Glen Ward of Cleveland Police said: ‘Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of both the men involved in this tragic incident today.
‘Despite the best efforts of emergency services, sadly both men were pronounced dead a short time after being brought out of the sea.
‘We are conducting enquiries into the circumstances of what happened today, although the deaths are not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.
‘I would like to remind everyone that open water comes with serious risks. We know it is inviting in the hot weather, but we would encourage people to refrain from entering any open water at all. Today we have sadly seen the true tragedy that can happen as a result.
‘Please take extra care and enjoy the warm weather as safely as possible.’
On Friday, the bodies of two teenagers were recovered in Derby and Greater Manchester following separate water-related incidents.
In Derby, an 18-year-old was retrieved from the water below the weir near the Darley Abbey Mills complex on Friday.
Emergency services had been called at 12.46pm after two young teenagers got into difficulty.
The younger teenager was rescued, but after hours of searches, the 18-year-old was found dead.
In Manchester, emergency services were called to Dovestone reservoir in Oldham at around 7pm on Friday.
They found an 18-year-old unresponsive in the water and he was pronounced dead at the scene despite efforts of medical professionals, the force added. A scene remains in place and inquiries are ongoing, police said.
The previous day a 16-year-old boy died after getting into difficulty in a lake in Lincoln – weeks after another teenager drowned at the same site.
Lincolnshire Police were called to Swanholme Lakes on Thursday afternoon and the boy was taken to hospital but he died shortly before 9pm.
Declan Sawyer, 15, also died after also getting into difficulty at the nature reserve on May 24.
Last month the family of a teenage boy who drowned at Clifton Country Park in Swinton, Greater Manchester, paid tribute to their much-loved son, brother, nephew and friend, Leon Pafu Ngoy.
They said in a statement: ‘Leon was our baby, our brother, our best friend and the heart of our family. He was kind, respectful, thoughtful and loved by everyone who knew him.’
Britain’s May and June heatwaves are thought to have claimed more than 2,700 lives, with almost half of these deaths said to be fuelled by the changing climate.
A study estimates that 550 people died during the exceptionally warm spell at the end of May, with a further 2,200 fatalities linked to the ten-day heatwave in June.
Dr Claire Barnes, a research associate in extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College London, argued: ‘Every time we have a heatwave, our news is filled with reporters at swimming pools, images of people eating ice cream and sunbathers on beaches.
‘We all love the sun, but people need to be aware that we are now seeing dangerous climate-change fuelled heat that is claiming lives, disrupting schools and hospitals and shutting down transport and infrastructure.
‘It’s time we woke up to the fact that we now live in a country with dangerously hot summers.’
