‘We had been in disbelief,’ says dad and mom of heatwave drown sufferer, 14

The dad and mom of a young person who drowned in a lake in the course of the heatwave mentioned they had been in disbelief at their son’s tragedy.

The Royal Life Saving Society mentioned at the least 50 individuals died from June to 10 August this 12 months because the UK confronted the most popular summer season on document.

14-year-old Lewis Agyei-Sekyireh from Enfield, north London – one of many youngest drowning victims this summer season – died after entering into issue in North Met Lake in close by Cheshunt earlier this month.

Lewis’s father, Evans Boaheng, mentioned the household was in disbelief when police mentioned {the teenager} went lacking within the water.

“We weren’t anticipating it,” Mr Boaheng instructed The Unbiased. “When the police report got here we instructed them it was a lie as a result of we knew our son had gone to play soccer.

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“We’re very unhappy; it was very painful. He’s a younger proficient boy. Everyone loves him. If Lewis sits all the way down to play drums you’ll clap your palms. He was additionally a rapper and a footballer,” Mr Boaheng added.

Mr Boaheng mentioned he didn’t find out about open water swimming warnings till after the deadly accident, however two weeks earlier than his loss of life Lewis had requested to go swimming at a leisure centre.

“Lewis wasn’t a swimmer to be trustworthy; he doesn’t know how one can swim in any respect,” Mr Boaheng mentioned. He added that Lewis was upset about not with the ability to go swimming on that event however by no means thought his son would get into such an accident.

Mr Boaheng urged dad and mom to do “all they’ll” to guard their youngsters and warned individuals to not undermine the dangers of swimming in open water

Lee Heard, director of the RLSS, mentioned there was a “direct correlation” between heat climate and a rise within the variety of drownings.

“I feel sadly this 12 months has been actually tragic, as was final 12 months,” Mr Heard instructed The Unbiased.

“There’s an inevitability across the heat climate and the variety of folks that drown. We don’t need individuals to not go into water to get pleasure from and study to swim, however the motive why so many individuals are drowning is there appears to be a lack of expertise of their capacity to swim in open water.”