Father grieves for ‘first born’ son after swimming tragedy

Aaron Burgess, who was named locally, was recovered by police diving teams late on Tuesday night.

The 14-year-old had been cooling off in a stretch of the River Avon between Bristol and Bath when he disappeared under the water and did not resurface.

A search operation involving police, fire and ambulance services began at about 5.40pm.

The police said the teenager’s body was discovered about six hours later.

Flowers and messages have been left at a nearby weir, including one which read: “My beautiful 1st born son, always acting the fool, chip off the old block, missing you loads, see you when I get there, Dad x”

Friends of the teenager also placed messages on the social network site Twitter.

Emma Sampson wrote: “RIP Aaron Burgess, you didn’t deserve this! My thoughts are with your family and friends, you’ll be missed.”

The body was expected to be formally identified yesterday and the coroner has been informed, police said.

Emergency services were called to a stretch of the river behind a pub in where the teenager had been swimming on the hottest day of the year so far.

An ambulance service spokesman said an ambulance, a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle and its hazardous area response team were sent to the incident while an air ambulance was put on standby.

Firefighters also attended as did Avon and Somerset’s police underwater search unit.

In Northamptonshire, the body of a 15-year-old boy was pulled from the River Nene shortly after 6pm on Tuesday.

The county’s police said they received a report of a missing person near Kettering at 2.57pm and launched a search for the teenager – involving the Environment Agency as well as the Fire and Rescue service and the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

A spokesman said: “Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death and will be preparing a report for the coroner.”

Formal identification had taken place but the teenager’s family requested that his name was not released, the spokesman added.