19-year-old British girl presumed dead after being washed out to sea while swimming with friends in the North Sea off the Dutch coast
A British teenage girl is believed to have died after being washed into the North Sea.
The missing The 19-year-old was with three friends on a beach near The Hague when she disappeared while swimming.
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The three friends, who are believed to be British, have now been safely rescued after they were found covered in blood by rescue workers.
They are all said to have been caught in the “wild” sea before they got into serious difficulties near the Dutch Zuidelijk Havenhoofd at around 8.30 p.m. on Sunday.
Rescue workers now fear that finding the last missing girl is becoming increasingly unlikely as more and more days pass without a trace being found.
It is believed that all three companions of the missing teenagers tried to rescue them, even though the group was swept away by the sea.
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A shocked witness told Dutch News According to the site Omroep West, two of the male friends were found with blood-stained bodies.
They said: “Both had blood on their legs. There was also a mother there who was panicking and screaming.”
“The water was so wild, really impassable. The boys barely survived.”
An official said the cuts were caused by the boys hitting the rocky terrain around the harbor that separates the beaches of Ijduin and Scheveningen.
All three tourists were taken to the local hospital for routine examinations.
During the search, dozens of rescue workers searched the entire beach promenade for traces of the Briton.
Both boats and helicopters took part in the hunt, and teams ran through the water with flashlights.
A crane was also used to search the vast sea and the rocky surrounding areas.
Since Monday, plans to search for the body have changed from a rescue mission to a recovery operation, the Haaglanden rescue service said.
A barricade was erected along the beach, blocking access to the pier so that rescue teams could conduct their search.
It came less than a month after a 14-year-old British boy tragically drowned when he fell from a boat in Amsterdam and disappeared underwater.
The 14-year-old boy was pulled out of the waters of the Buiten-IJ in July while sailing with friends, and rescue workers immediately rushed to the scene of the accident.
Rescue workers found the boy less than an hour after he was first reported missing at around 3:30 p.m.
On the same day, a two-year-old girl died after falling into a lake in Heerhugowaard.
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