A multi-agency search operation is underway after a 15-year-old boy went missing after last being seen swimming in a lake in Southampton.
Police marine units have joined emergency services in the search for the boy, who was reported missing at 1.35pm today after last being seen swimming at Testwood Lakes, near Totton.
A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “A multi-agency operation is under way following a report that a 15-year-old boy is missing after he was last seen swimming at Testwood Lakes near Totton.
“This was reported to police at 1.35pm on Wednesday 24 June and the area is currently off limits while our search operation is ongoing. Please avoid the area at this time. Please avoid the area at this time.
“We have deployed the marine units to aid in the search, alongside colleagues from NPAS, South Central Ambulance Service, and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire Service.”
The main gate to the lake area has been closed and people are urged to avoid the area.
The search comes just week after an Oxford professor revealed to GB News that revealed one in four children cannot swim and child drowning deaths have doubled in England.
Professor Carl Heneghan, Director of Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, spoke out after 11 heartbreaking drowning deaths during Britain’s record-breaking May heatwave.
The urgent care GP said new rules should be introduced, ensuring every child can demonstrate basic water safety skills before leaving primary school.
Prof Heneghan carried out research showing the recent tragedies are not isolated incidents but part of a national “swimming crisis”.
His analysis reveals more than one in four children leave primary school unable to swim 25 metres unaided, despite swimming being a compulsory part of the national curriculum.
This means hundreds of thousands of youngsters are leaving school without a basic life-saving skill. And the numbers are far higher – 35 per cent – among low-income families.
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