Moment two Brit children found drowned with 'exhausted' dad in holiday tragedy

A British brother and sister tragically drowned in front of their dad while swimming off a beach in Spain.

The boy aged 11 and girl aged 13 had been swimming off Llarga beach in Salou, Tarragona, on Tuesday night, according to the Civil Protection force. Their dad reportedly entered the water after seeing them in trouble and tried to save them. He was rescued alive, but tragically his children could not be saved.

Police said sea conditions were rough and the beach had a yellow flag throughout the day - meaning swimming is allowed but caution is advised. The Civil Protection spokesman said lifeguards had already left the beach for the day less than an hour earlier.

A hotel worker had tried to help the stricken family and police who arrived at the scene also jumped in to try and save them all. Seven medical units attended the scene along with police and fire services.

READ MORE: British siblings aged 11 and 13 drown in front of dad on Spanish beach

READ MORE: Brit brothers, 11 and 13, drown at Spanish beach as 'hero' dad pulled from water

But both youngsters were in cardiac arrest by the time emergency help arrived and efforts to save them proved unsuccessful. Inspector Jose Luis Gargallo, head of Salou’s local police force, said the initial call received pointed to three people drowning off the resort’s Llarga beach.

He said: “Local police rushed to the scene and saw that there were indeed three people who were really struggling to get out of the water. It was a father with his son and his daughter, all British. When the youngsters, the boy and girl aged 11 and 13, were brought out of the water they had no vital signs and all the resuscitation efforts to save them proved unsuccessful.

“The father could be saved. He had swallowed a lot of water and he was exhausted but could be saved thanks to the intervention of the emergency medical responders and police. We’re talking about a family with five children and the mum was in the nearby hotel where they were staying with the other three children. The father was with the two children that died.

“All day a yellow flag had been out at that beach so there was a danger of a stormy sea which is why the yellow flag was out. When the tragedy happened the sea was the same as two or three hours before so it was a stormy sea,” he said. “That’s why you have to be careful with the sea.

"This is a beach that offers ideal swimming conditions 99% of the year, but yesterday this was not the case…it’s a very calm sea normally... Just a few hours earlier another person had died in very similar conditions.” He added: “The lifeguards are on duty at the beach where these British youngsters died until 8pm. They start work at 9.30am.

“Unfortunately this alert came in at 8.48pm so 48 minutes after the lifeguard service had finished. This has been an accident but as always with these sorts of accidents, a thorough investigation will take place to see if there are things that can be improved and if they can there will be improvements.”

He also said local police officers jumped into the sea to try to save the children. One of the officers, identified only by his first name and the initial of his surname as Younes A, said: “A hotel worker was trying to get one of the three out of the sea when we arrived.

“We were told when we helped get that person out that another two people were in the sea who could be minors. We tried to locate them, saw bits of clothes and seconds later were able to locate and get a young girl out of the water and began resuscitation and another police force was the one responsible for getting the other child out of the sea.

“When the emergency services arrived they took over the efforts to save them until they said they couldn’t do anything more. We don’t know the circumstances leading up to them getting into difficulties.

“I leapt into the water with two other colleagues to get the father to safety first before going back to rescue one of the children.” He added: “There were waves and wind. It was dangerous. There was a lot of swell.”

Footage published locally yesterday showed a helicopter flying above the beach where a white tent had been erected on the sand to shield the bodies of the two children. Emergency services were still at the scene after nightfall before court workers authorised the removal of their bodies so they could be taken to a nearby morgue for post-mortems to take place.

Authorities sent a team of psychologists to support the family who are understood to have been staying at a nearby four-star Hotel Best Negresco. A source at the hotel confirmed: “The hotel is doing all it can at the moment to assist the family.

“The children’s father is here at the moment and is not in hospital. The hotel found out yesterday what had happened. Everyone at the hotel is distraught.” Salou Town Hall organised a minute’s silence on Wednesday around noon local time.

The deaths bring the number of fatalities on Catalan beaches to 16 since the summer season began on June 15th - five more than the same period last year, officials added. A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said: "We are supporting the family of two British children who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities."

The civil protection force urged "the importance of taking extreme precautions on beaches, swimming pools and inland waters this summer". Five hours before this tragedy a 54 year old German tourist also drowned at Cambrils beach in southern Catalonia.

He was rescued alive around 4.30pm but died soon after he reached the shoreline. Cambrils’ mayor Oliver Klein said afterwards: “We profoundly regret the loss of a human life on our coast.

“It’s a tragic incident which has left us deeply moved. I want to express my most sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person affected.” The deaths of the two youngsters, follows a number of other British deaths in Spain this summer.

Two British men, aged 19 and 26, died in separate incidents at a hotel and music venue in Ibiza earlier this month. The Mossos regional police force declined to comment and a spokesman said: “We are not making any official comment as this is not a criminal matter and according to protocol it’s Civil Protection that would make any statement.

“We’ve drafted a report on the incident which has been passed on to an investigating court.”