Blackpool holidaymakers watch helplessly as man drowns
A man has drowned after being swept out to sea by a large wave at Blackpool, one of Britain's busiest holiday resorts.
The man, believed to have been aged 44, had been staying in a hotel in the area. He was standing close to the water's edge by the promenade on Saturday morning when he was dragged into the sea by the wave.
The dangerous conditions meant that horrified witnesses could do nothing to help. They called the coastguard and a lifeboat crew and an RAF helicopter were scrambled to the scene.
A body was recovered from the water and the man was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
Lancashire Police confirmed that he had been staying in a nearby hotel with a friend. He was not from Blackpool.
On the same day, another man drowned in East Sussex after falling off a sea wall while out walking.
According to reports in local newspaper The Argus, a construction worker who had been working nearby jumped into the water at Friar's Bay in Peacehaven to help him. He managed to recover the man and pull him onto a groyne, but the waves broke over them and the man was lost from his grasp.
The drowned man, believed to be aged 44 and from Middlesex, was airlifted to Eastbourne District General Hospital but was declared dead soon after.
The construction worker was treated for hypothermia and head injuries.
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