Father of 16-year-old drowned boy warns of open water dangers

A father whose 16-year-old son drowned at a reservoir in South Yorkshire is warning of the dangers of open water ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

Sam Haycock drowned at Ulley Reservoir, Rotherham, in 2021, with his father Simon now sharing the message of water safety in schools and community groups.

He is reiterating his warning after two young men died in East Yorkshire and a boy, 16, drowned in West Yorkshire.

"My focus is on what I'm trying to do rather than negatives," he said.

With temperatures likely to remain warm over the coming days, emergency services and the Canal & River Trust are asking people not to put themselves at risk.

"It took over my life, we'll never get over losing Sam but I use my grief to try to do something positive," Mr Haycock said.

Sam was with friends at the reservoir on a Friday afternoon in late May when he got into difficulty in the water.

His body was later recovered by an underwater search team.

"The message is stay away from them - they're not the place to be spending time, they're certainly not the place to be going in swimming and jumping in," Mr Haycock said.

"They're dangerous, the water's extremely cold even on a hot day and there's hidden dangers underneath so you don't know what you're jumping into."

The bodies of an 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old man were recovered by divers at High Eske Nature Reserve, near Tickton, on Wednesday, with four swimmers rescued.

A 16-year-old boy died in Castleford on Wednesday, with his body recovered from the River Calder.

Mr Haycock is holding an event at Clifton Park in Rotherham on Saturday to give people advice on water safety.

A short distance away at Holmes Lock, a Canal & River Trust water safety throwline board has been vandalised for the third time in a week, the fire service said.

John Gibson, an area operations manager for the trust, said: "We want people to enjoy being by the water and go home safely at the end of the day.

"We can end up with fatalities and it's devastating for the families involved in this as well as my staff, volunteers and members of the public."

Jonathan Henderson, of Humberside Fire and Rescue, said: "We see on average about 300 accidental drownings throughout the UK each year, about 80% of those are men and a heavy percentage of those are young men.

"If you do find yourself in the water, lay on your back to float - but don't go in the water in the first place."

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