Two British brothers aged seven and nine die while swimming in lake in Germany
26 August 2022, 13:57 | Updated: 26 August 2022, 14:12
Two British brothers have died while swimming in a lake in Germany.
The children, aged seven and nine, were reported missing by their parents on Thursday evening at the natural outdoor swimming area of Lake Rursee in Simmerath,close to the dutch and Belgian borders.
A first responder is understood to have found the boys ‘lifeless in the water,’ according to German media.
Emergency services attempted to resuscitate the boys and they were flown to two different hospitals by helicopter.
Both were pronounced dead later that evening.
The public prosecutor’s office in Aachen said the boys were visiting as tourists. They are deciding whether a criminal offence that ‘could be a form of negligence.
Police told German news outlet Bild they received an emergency call at 5:59pm on Thursday, and dispatched several response vehicles to the scene immediately.
Specialist teams from Germany's Technical Relief Agency (THW) and the DLRG (German Life Saving Organisation) followed.
The boys were found in a deep area of the lake and were reported to be non-swimmers.The natural outdoor pool area in Simmerath, near Aachen, in western Germany is a popular destination for tourists.
At the end of July, a 16-year-old Belgian drowned in the water after jumping off a jetty. He never reappeared. His body was found after a two-hour search operation with divers and a helicopter.
