Police launch probe after swimmer goes lacking within the Thames
- A man was seen getting into difficulty off Barge Walk, in Kingston upon Thames
A search has begun for a swimmer who went missing in the Thames on the hottest day of the year.
A man was seen getting into difficulty in the waters off Barge Walk, Kingston upon Thames, at around 6.41pm yesterday when temperatures reached a scorching 27.5C.
A huge search has been launched which included the Marine Policing officers, London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, the RNLI and the National Police Air Service.
A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said: ‘Police were called at 6.41pm on Sunday, May 12 to the river at Barge Walk, Kingston.
‘It was reported that a man had got into difficulty after entering the water to swim.
‘The man has not been found at this time.’
MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police for further comment.
Search and rescue teams along Thames in Kingston search for a missing swimmer
A huge search has been launched which includes the Marine Policing officers, London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, the RNLI and the National Police Air Service
The swimmer went missing in the Thames on the hottest day of the year. One eyewitness had been watching a group in the waters when about 30 minutes later police cars and ambulances arrived
A man was seen getting into difficulty in the waters off Barge Walk, Kingston upon Thames
Jadine Brunsdon, who works at a bar near where the man went into the water, was sitting by the river side with a friend watching people swimming at the time.
She told BBC News: ‘We noticed them going in. Then about half an hour later we saw police cars and ambulances driving down.’
Britons enjoyed the hottest day of the year yesterday, with record temperatures for 2024 broken three times in the last week, with the mercury peaking at a blistering 27.5C in Chertsey, Surrey.
The UK’s glorious weekend weather came to a crashing halt with forecasters predicting a two-day washout from today.
The forecaster predicted parts of south-west England, south Wales, and Northern Ireland will be worst hit, with some yellow weather warnings in place until tomorrow night.
It added local transport networks may face disruption, with up to 8mm of rainfall per hour at times.
