Two men died after going into the sea at Seaton Carew beach in Hartlepool to try to help two children in difficulty, Cleveland Police said. Police were called at 15:45 BST, and the children were later taken to hospital and found to be safe.
Seaton Carew beach rescue
The men entered the water after reports that two children were getting into difficulty. The RNLI brought the men out of the water, and both were pronounced dead a short time later.
Supt Glen Wand said, "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of both the men involved in this tragic incident today." Cleveland Police said specially trained officers were supporting both families.
Cleveland Police and the coroner
The force said the deaths were not being treated as suspicious. It added that a file would be prepared for the coroner, moving the case into the formal process that follows a sudden death.
The detail that the children were taken to hospital and were safe sits alongside the deaths of the two men who tried to help them. That sequence leaves the rescue attempt as the central fact of the day at Seaton Carew, and the question that remains is what caused the children to get into difficulty in the first place.
For the families involved, the immediate step is police support while the coroner’s file is prepared. For everyone else at Seaton Carew, the key point is that the water incident ended with two deaths, but not with the children in danger.
