Tenth person dies in open water during UK heatwave as teenage boy’s body recovered in Kent

A 10th person has died in open water following several days of record-breaking heatwave.

The body of a teenage boy was recovered from a pond in Kent and police were called to Galley Hill Road in Swanscombe at 2.55pm on Wednesday.

Emergency services were notified that a swimmer was worried in the pond, and search and rescue efforts were initiated.

His death is not being treated as suspicious at this time and a report is being prepared for the coroner.

People have died across the UK in recent days after struggling in open water in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cornwall, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Cheshire, Pembrokeshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire.

Declan Sawyer, 15, died after getting into trouble at Swanholme Lakes in Lincoln on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, a 72-year-old woman died after being pulled from the water at West Angle Bay beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at around 3.15pm.

A 13-year-old boy, identified as Reco Puttock, died after getting into trouble at the Leadbeater Dam near Halifax in West Yorkshire on Monday, while the body of a young girl was pulled from the water at Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire.

The same day, a man in his 60s died of a heart attack after diving into the sea at Tregirls Beach in Padstow to help two family members in distress, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

South Yorkshire Police said the body of a teenager was pulled from the water at Rother Valley Country Park in Rotherham in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Another body has been found during the search for a teenage boy who was last seen swimming in Hawley Lake on the Hampshire/Surrey border on Tuesday afternoon.

A 12-year-old boy who died after getting into trouble in the River Ribble in Ribchester, Lancashire, on Tuesday has been named Junior Slater, from Clayton-le-Woods.

More to follow…