Missing 12-year-old girl found dead in river in west of Scotland after police search
Death comes after surge in incidents for HM Coastguard during weekend heatwave
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Your support makes all the difference.A missing 12-year-old girl has been found dead in the west of Scotland after a police search at a river on Sunday evening.
Police Scotland said its officers were called to a report of a girl being in difficulty in the River Leven, near Balloch Bridge, West Dunbartonshire, at about 6.45pm last night.
“Emergency services attended and searches were carried out. Around 9.45pm, the young girl was recovered from the water,” Police Scotland said in a statement.
“Sadly she was pronounced dead at the scene.”
West Dunbartonshire Police, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency all confirmed they were involved in the search and asked the public to avoid the area.
The child’s family have been informed of her death.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of the incident, but the death is not being treated as suspicious and a full report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal,” Police Scotland added.
It came as HM Coastguard dealt with a surge in incidents over the weekend as the UK experienced a heatwave.
The service said it responded to 340 incidents on Saturday across the whole of the UK - the highest number of call-outs in a single day for well over four years.
The Coastguard co-ordinated search and rescue responses for a wide range of incidents, such as people being cut off by the tide and children swept out to sea on inflatables.
In total, the service rescued 146 people and assisted a further 371.
On Sunday, police said a woman in her 30s had died after getting into difficulties in the sea off Norfolk coast.
“A woman, aged in her 30s, was recovered from the water and she was sadly pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. Her death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious,” Superintendent Jason Broome from Norfolk Constabulary said.
“While enquiries are continuing to establish the exact circumstances leading up to the woman's death, this is a tragic situation and our condolences are with her family.”
Additional reporting by PA
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