A man has died after reportedly struggling with weeds in a Cotswold Water Park lake – as temperatures in the area hit 34 degrees Celsius.
The 20-year-old from Swindon was swimming in Lake 26, near Whitefriars Sailing Club, at around 6pm yesterday evening (Monday, 18 July).
During the swim – where he was joined by a group of friends – he is believed to have got into difficulty, struggled to swim in the weeds and died in the water.
Firefighters from Malmesbury, Cricklade and Cirencester were first to arrive at the scene, but the casualty was already out of the water so no rescue operation was required.
Despite the best efforts of firefighters, ambulance crews and Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s critical care medics, he was pronounced dead.
In a statement, Wiltshire Police said: “A man has sadly died following an incident at Cotswold Water Park, Ashton Keynes.
“We were called to the scene shortly after 6pm yesterday.
“Sadly, a man in his 20s was confirmed deceased shortly after being pulled from the water.
“Our thoughts are with his family at this tragic time. We are not treating his death as suspicious.”
READ MORE: Cotswold Lakes Trust issue statement after young man dies during heatwave swim
South Western Ambulance Service confirmed it sent numerous resources to the incident.
A spokesperson said: “We were called at 18.07hrs on Monday 18 July to an incident in Ashton Keynes and sent an operations officer, two double-crewed land ambulances and an air ambulance”.
