Heatwave claims first lives

The searing UK heatwave has claimed its first lives, it emerged today.

Two 17-year-old boys died in separate tragic accidents as they cooled off in stretches of water yesterday as temperatures hit record levels for the year.

One of the teenagers was with friends when he decided to go for a dip at a Hampshire lake in Hurstbourne Priors, near Whitchurch, after a day of intense heat in the area.

Friends saw the boy go under late in the afternoon without coming back up. His body was recovered about two hours later.

The second tragedy happened in a south Yorkshire canal lock after a group of eight boys went for a swim on what was described as a "treacherous stretch of water" by South Yorkshire Police.

Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about the circumstances surrounding the boy's death at Aldwarke Lock in the Parkgate area of Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

A six-year-old girl is in intensive care today after she was discovered floating face down in a lake packed with children.

The girl was pulled unconscious from the water yesterday after she got out of her depth near the paddling area at Market Bosworth Water Park in Leicestershire.

She was taken by air ambulance to the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Birmingham, where she was described as "poorly but stable".

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