Bawsey Pits: Inquest Begins Into Drowning

25 February 2014, 06:40 | Updated: 25 February 2014, 06:45

An inquest begins later into the death of a Norfolk man who drowned searching for a teenager at a beauty spot.

Ryan Pettengell, 41, of King's Lynn, and Umar Balogun, 16, from London, were recovered from Bawsey Pits quarry lakes near King's Lynn during a heatwave in July.

Friends who were with Mr Pettengell at the time later described how he had tried to swim out to an island to look for Umar after hearing he was missing.

Unknown to Mr Pettengell, Umar's body had already been found.

An inquest into Mr Pettengell's death will be held at Norwich Coroner's Court this afternoon.

The Bawsey Pits drownings were among a series of water-related deaths as temperatures soared across the UK.

In the same week a woman died while swimming in the sea in Cornwall and a man died after getting into difficulties while in a river on the Shropshire/North Wales border.

Swimming in the lakes, which are deep and thick with undergrowth, is banned, but the warning signs are ignored by many people.