Teenage boy dies after dinghy accident near Sunderland

A teenage boy has died after he was pulled from the mouth of the River Wear in Sunderland following a search and rescue operation.

The 17-year-old had got into difficulties after heading out in a dinghy with three other teenagers, Northumbria Police said.

He was rescued by the RNLI and airlifted by police helicopter to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with serious injuries, but later died.

He had been spotted with another 17-year-old boy at 3.22pm on Tuesday (30 August) at the mouth of the Wear, near to the Old Pier at Sunderland Yacht Club.

It is thought the group of youngsters had got into difficulty after getting out of the dinghy to swim.

A search operation initially only rescued the second boy and the two 17-year-old girls, with the first boy missing for almost two hours before being spotted by a police helicopter.

The other three teenagers remain in a stable condition.

The death is just the latest fatality to hit the UK's seasides this summer as people flock to beaches to enjoy the warm weather.

On Tuesday, a man died and a 12-year-old girl taken to hospital following a scuba diving accident off the coast of Cornwall. Both were pulled from the sea by members of the public at the hamlet of East Portholland near St Austell, as an air ambulance and coastguard helicopter were scrambled.

The man was declared dead at the scene while the girl was taken to Derriford hospital in Plymouth.

Five young men died at Camber Sands in East Sussex last week, while a father and his two-year-old daughter both lost their lives after being swept off rocks at Newquay in Cornwall earlier in the month.