Teen's Body Pulled From River On Hottest Day

The father of a 16-year-old boy who died while playing in a river with friends in Hyde, Greater Manchester, has visited the spot where his son lost his life.

The teenager, named locally as Jack Pullen, had been swimming in the River Etherow near Broadbottom Road when he got into difficulties.

His father Gary Pullen, from nearby Hattersley, sat on the river bank for several minutes, overcome with emotion.

He said his son, who had recently finished his GCSEs, had not known what he wanted to do next.

"He just wanted to be a teenager and be out with his mates," Mr Pullen said.

Emergency services were alerted to a body in the river just before 5.45pm on Tuesday - the hottest day of the year so far in the UK.

The boy's body was found and recovered and Greater Manchester Police said there were no "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the teenager's death.

Inspector David Loughlin, of GMP's Tameside borough, said it was still unclear what had happened to the teenager, but that he had disappeared from sight for some 20 minutes.

He said the boy's friends called the emergency services, who were at the scene within 15 minutes.

"There was a group of 16-year-olds who had been at the riverbank; it's not clear what they were doing at this stage," Inspector Loughlin said.

"He hadn't been seen for some 20 minutes when the emergency services were called. It was a number of hours before we recovered the body."

He added: "Clearly, as we have seen, a tragedy has occurred last night and a young boy has lost his life.

"The dangers are clear of playing in water when you don't know the depth, don't know what lies in the surface of the water and you can't see the bottom."

People have been leaving flowers near the scene.

One card read: "Jack, Heaven has gained a perfect angel and we're all left wondering why. Such a beautiful kid. Jack we are all gonna miss you so much. Love you always, Lisa XXX."

A resident of one of the cottages along the river said children often jump into the water when the weather is warm.

"Everybody on the road is upset because we've seen them doing it. It's like a sign of summer seeing kids jump in and having a laugh," said the man, who did not want to be named.

"They all jump in - it's a favourite spot. I don't know where he was from, I've heard Hattersley.

"Somebody said it was the bridge but my wife said they were jumping in from the rocks - it's about 2ft. There's a few rocks in there and there are some deeper pools.

"One of my neighbours was first on the scene. They found a distraught 16-year-old wondering where his mate had gone."