A grandfather died trying to save his granddaughter after she was swept out to sea in Cornwall.
Phil Crow, 68, was at Tregirls Beach, near Padstow, on bank holiday Monday with nine-year-old Sia Briskham and his wife, Tina.
A sudden change in the tide pulled both Sia and Tina out further into the water. Mr Crow is understood to have suffered a cardiac arrest in the sea after he rushed out after them.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sia and Tina were both brought to safety by members of the public. The widow was picked up by a passing boat before being checked over by paramedics.
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She told the Daily Mail: ‘We were jumping up with the waves then all of a sudden we couldn’t hit the floor when we landed, it was deeper and was pulling us out.
‘He was shouting at her to lay on her back but she couldn’t stand, he pushed her to safety, but doing so meant he couldn’t get back himself.
Tina said another of the couple’s grandchildren – Nate, 12 – was with them on the beach and shouted for help from the shore.
Around 15 people became involved in the rescue efforts.
Tina thanked the emergency services who tried to save her husband, many of whom knew him personally.
She added the family had been coming to the beach for 50 years because it is the ‘safest’ in the area.
Mr Crow was a retired stonemason and lifelong resident of Padstow.
Daughter Mel Thomas, 49, said her dad had ‘died a hero’.
‘He always told [his grandchildren] he loved them so much, he would die to protect them and he is a man of his word,’ she said.
Meanwhile, Nate and Sia’s mother, Angie Crow, said: ‘I’m just so thankful for him and what he did.’
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘We were called by the Ambulance Service at around 3.50pm on Monday 25 May following a report of a man suffering a cardiac arrest in the sea at Tregirls Beach, Padstow.
‘Emergency services and the RNLI attended the scene but sadly, the local man in his 60s was pronounced deceased at the scene. His next of kin are aware.
‘The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for HM Coroner.’
It comes following a spate of teenage deaths in water-related incidents at the start of the unseasonably hot May half-term.
Declan Sawyer, 15, died after getting into trouble at Swanholme Lakes, Lincoln, on Sunday.
Reco Puttock, 13, died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Monday.
The body of a teenage girl was also recovered from the water at Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire.
The body of a fourth teen was recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham, yesterday morning.
That evening, a body had been recovered from the River Ribble after a boy, 12, got into difficulty while swimming with friends at Ribchester.
Irish police said that Abbie Carmody-Pepper, 15, died in the sea at Burrow Beach, a popular swimming spot near Howth, on Sunday.
She was swimming with friends at the time, according to a GoFundMe raising money for her funeral.