UK sees 6 water-related deaths, amid record-breaking temperatures

Six people, including five teenagers, died in water-related incidents across the UK since Sunday during heat waves, according to media reports on Wednesday.

In a latest incident, police believe a body found during the search for a 12-year-old boy who went missing while swimming in a river in Lancashire is that of the child.

The BBC reported that he was with friends when he got into difficulty in the River Ribble, Ribchester, at about 2 pm local time (1300GMT) on Tuesday.

Since the beginning of heat waves last week, a total of five youngsters and a man in his 60s have died in water-related incidents in England.

On Bank Holiday Monday, a 13-year-old boy, named locally as Reco Puttock, was pronounced dead after being pulled from Leadbeater Dam in Halifax, West Yorkshire, while the body of a teenage girl was recovered from Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire, and the body of a teenage boy was recovered from a lake in Rother Valley Country Park in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

A man in his 60s also died on Monday after running into the sea to help two relatives who had got into difficulty at Tregirls Beach near Padstow, Cornwall.

At Swanholme Lakes in Lincoln, Declan Sawyer, 15, was found dead after emergency crews were called to reports of him getting into difficulty at about 2.30 pm local time (1330GMT) on Sunday.

In Cheshire, emergency services have also been searching for a teenage boy reported missing in Pickmere Lake, between Knutsford and Northwich.

Some areas of London saw 35C (95F) heat on Tuesday, breaking a record set on Monday for the hottest May day.

Kew Gardens in southwestern London recorded a provisional temperature of 35.1C (95.18F), beating Monday's 34.8C (94.64F) record-high in the same place.

Last week, the UK Health Security Agency issued amber and yellow heat-health alerts across England, the first time this year, ahead of record-breaking temperatures.