A body has been found in the search of a 15-year-old boy who was last seen getting into difficulty while swimming with friends in a river yesterday.
Cumbria Police made the sad discovery in the River Eden in Carlisle at 1.30pm today.
A massive search was launched yesterday at 6.41pm when a group of four teenage boys got into difficulty in the river.
One of the group, a 15-year-old from Carlisle, went missing.
A 14-year-old boy, who was airlifted to hospital yesterday, remains in a critical condition.
One of the boys from the group managed to swim to safety, while another was rescued safely by a member of the public. Both were checked over by medical professionals.
While formal identification has yet been confirmed, however, the family of the 15-year-old have been informed.
They are being supported by specialist officers.
A file will be prepared for the Coroner.
Chief Superintendent Lisa Hogan, Cumbria Constabulary, said:
“This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family of the 15-year-old boy at this difficult time.
“An extensive search operation has taken place since the incident was reported yesterday evening. The search activity was assisted by emergency services, search and rescue teams, and specialist search professionals from Cumbria and from outside the county."
Last Wednesday evening, a body believed to be of a 16-year-old boy was recovered from the River Calder in Castleford, West Yorkshire.
While also last Wednesday - as the UK enjoyed a scorching day - saw a double tragedy involving two men aged 19 and 18 at High Eske Nature Reserve, in Tickton, East Yorkshire.
That prompted Humberside Fire and Rescue Service to stress the deadly dangers of open water in hot weather and how treacherous it can be.
They went on: "The service would like to stress the importance of remaining safe around open water and the clear advice from the emergency services is that people should not enter the water.
"Open water such as ponds, rivers and lakes etc are highly dangerous and people should not enter them."
