08/04/2014

Two British Tourists Die Trying To Rescue Children

Two British tourists have died on the island of Tenerife after getting into difficulties while trying to save their children, who had been swept out to sea by a wave.

Uma Ramalingam and Barathi Ravikumar died on Sunday. The children, aged 10 and 14, were rescued by tourists and hotel workers while an emergency services helicopter pulled a third woman from the water.

A spokeswoman for Canary Islands emergency services said: "Witnesses rescued two women and two children from the sea. An emergency helicopter located a fifth person in the sea, a woman, and one of the respondents dangled out of the craft and pulled her out."

He also said that staff from the Canaries health service, a doctor from a nearby health centre and another doctor tried to revive the women.

Ramalingam, 42 and Ravikumar, 39 who were doctors, were found in cardiac arrest and although emergency services administered advance CPR, it was not successful.

The 10-year-old child was taken to hospital with hypothermia, the 14-year-old was treated for minor bruises and the third woman, who was also in cardiac arrest when she was rescued, survived after receiving CPR.

A Guardia Civil spokeswoman said that an investigation is under way and confirmed the British nationality of the women as they were relatives of the children but it had not been ascertained yet how they are related.

(CVS)

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