Tragedy as body of woman, 20, pulled from UK river

Tragedy struck in County Durham on Saturday afternoon (November 15) after the body of a young woman was recovered from the River Tees in Barnard Castle. Multiple emergency services were called to the Lartington Lane area at 2pm after reports of concern for a kayaker who had got into difficulty in the water.

The County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, the North East Ambulance Service, the Great North Air Ambulance Service, the Coastguard and the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team were all involved in the search. A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: “We were called to reports of concern for a kayaker who had got into difficulty in the river just before 2pm. Multiple emergency services were involved in the search, but sadly, the body of a 20-year-old woman was recovered just after 4pm.” They added that her family have been informed and is being supported by specialist officers.

According to ChronicleLive, a spokesperson for the North East Ambulance Service said: “We received a call at 1.50pm on Saturday, November 15, to reports of a person in water in the Lartington area of Barnard Castle.

“We dispatched two ambulance crews, a clinical team leader, a duty officer, three crews from our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), and requested support from our colleagues at the mountain rescue team and the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), who attended by road and air.”

Pictures taken from the scene later on Saturday evening showed a huge presence of 999 crews, with two ambulances, two cars, one large police van and four fire engines parked along the road, The Northern Echo reported.