Water-related deaths in UK heatwave hit 15 after girl, 13, dies and boy goes missing

The girl was pulled from the River Wharfe and airlifted to hospital where she was pronounced dead, North Yorkshire police said. Photograph: Martin Birchall/Alamy View image in fullscreen The girl was pulled from the River Wharfe and airlifted to hospital where she was pronounced dead, North Yorkshire police said. Photograph: Martin Birchall/Alamy Water-related deaths in UK heatwave hit 15 after girl, 13, dies and boy goes missing Girl pulled from River Wharfe in Burnsall, Yorkshire, on Sunday, with temperatures dropping down to average on Monday A 13-year-old girl has died after going into a river and a boy is missing as the water-related death toll reached at least 15 amid a heatwave. The girl was pulled from the River Wharfe in Burnsall, near Skipton, North Yorkshire , on Sunday evening. She was airlifted to hospital where she was pronounced dead, North Yorkshire police said. Julian Smith, the MP for Skipton and Ripon, thanked emergency services and local residents who supported the rescue, saying: “This morning all my thoughts, prayers and wishes are with the family of the young girl who died in Burnsall yesterday. I was so sorry and sad to hear this horrific and devastating news.” At least 15 people have died in water-related incidents during the hot spell across the UK, when temperatures reached record highs . South Yorkshire police began a second day of searches on Monday for an 11-year-old boy who entered the River Don on Saturday and has not been seen since. Police were called to the scene at the River Don in Mexborough at around 8pm on Saturday and emergency crews from the National Police Air Service as well as paramedics and the fire brigade attended. Last May, 26 people were recorded as having died in water-related accidents, slightly lower than the same month in 2024, according to the charity National Water Safety . The number of water-related fatalities increases over the summer months, as more people enter the water, with a total of 202 accidental deaths in 2025 – down from a high of 315 in 2021. Men in their 60s were more likely to have died in a water-related accident than any other group, according to the statistics. Inland areas such as reservoirs and rivers were linked to more deaths than the sea. A 15-year-old girl from Cheshire died in hospital on Saturday after getting into difficulty in the sea off the coast of Merseyside on bank holiday Monday. A woman in her 60s died on Saturday after she and a man entered the sea to rescue their dog in the Lancashire village of Thornton-Cleveleys. Lancashire police said the man, also in his 60s, remains in a critical condition in hospital. View image in fullscreen People gathered by a lake in Crookes Valley Park in Sheffield last week as temperatures broke the May record. Photograph: Katy Blackwood/NurPhoto/Shutterstock It comes as temperatures dropped on Monday towards the average for the time of year after the heatwave. Forecasters said the first day of June would feel “more like sprin