Man dies after jumping into Doncaster river in current heatwave

A man has died after jumping into a Doncaster river during the current heatwave.
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Police confirmed they had found a body in the River Don after a search was launched after he disappeared in the water on Saturday evening.

Divers found the body at 10am on Sunday morning.

Officers received a call on Saturday June 29 at 3.55pm from a man who told them his friend had jumped into the river, and emergency services were sent to the scene, in Conisbrough, close the the Dearne Valley Leisure Centre.

File picture of police underwater search in a canal near Mexborough in 2006File picture of police underwater search in a canal near Mexborough in 2006
File picture of police underwater search in a canal near Mexborough in 2006
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They recovered the body of a 29-year-old man from the river on Sunday after an underwater search by police divers.

Police issued a statement this afternoon. It said: “At 3.55pm on Saturday June 29, emergency services were called to the River Don in Conisborough following reports that a man had jumped in the river and hadn’t resurfaced.

“The following morning (Sunday 30 June), at around 10am, underwater search teams found the body of the 29-year-old man close to where he’d gone missing.”

The tragedy comes just days after a warning against the dangers of open water swimming in the borough.

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FCC Environment, which owns Skelbooke lake, in Doncaster, put out a warning of the dangers on June 18, during this year’s ‘Drowning Prevention Week’, which ran from June 14-24 June, and aims to reduce the number of drownings.

They warned due to an automatic bodily response, cold water shock can seriously, sometimes fatally, affect your breathing and movement. It makes the blood vessels in the skin close up, increasing the blood flow resistance and heart rate, which can lead to heart attacks.

Cold water can also cause an involuntary large gasp for breath, raising the breathing rate uncontrollably and greatly increasing the risk of inhaling water into the lungs. It only takes half a pint of water to enter the lungs for an adult man to begin drowning.

FCC Environment’s Paul Stokes, Head of SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environment and Quality)commented: “When we get spells of warmer weather it is common for children and teenagers to believe that sites such as Skelbrooke are ideal places to cool off, without knowing the dangers. We urge parents and carers to warn their children that swimming and playing in quarries is fraught with risk: they can be dangerous, even life-threatening, places.