The body of a 14-year-old boy has been recovered from the River Thames making him the 11th person to die in water-related incidents during the recent heatwave.
Police, fire and ambulance services were called to the River Thames near Donnington Bridge, Oxford, at around 5.30pm on Wednesday.
Thames Valley Police confirmed that the boy’s family have been informed and his death was being treated as “unexplained but not suspicious”.
It comes after a number of similar deaths resulting from open water swimming during a record-breaking heatwave, which saw temperatures climb to 35.1C in Kew Gardens, west London, on Tuesday.
The hot weather is expected to continue over the coming days, before easing over the weekend, according to the Met Office.
Thursday will feel “very warm” for many, particularly in the South East, where areas such as London are expected to see highs of 31C, the forecaster said.
A yellow heat health alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSE) for eastern and south-east England and London, running from 4pm on Thursday until 8pm on Saturday.
The UKHSA said it means water-related incidents could increase, and warned of the risks from cold-water shock and drowning.
It follows a night of heavy downpours and frequent lighting strikes, mainly seen across the Midlands and in the north of England.
Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said the thunderstorms came as “very warm and unstable conditions” developed, adding: “These brought localised heavy downpours and frequent lightning.
“As is typical with thunderstorms, impacts varied over short distances, with some areas seeing intense rainfall while others nearby remained largely dry.”
Since Tuesday, more than 85,000 lightning strikes have been recorded across the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, according to the Met Office.
Coleshill, Warwickshire, saw as much as 25.4mm of rainfall between 9pm on Wednesday and 3am on Thursday, while Solihull, in the West Midlands, recorded 15.6mm over the same period.
Ms Maxey said: “Looking ahead, the recent very hot conditions are expected to ease through the rest of the week, with a shift towards more changeable weather and a reduced risk of widespread thunderstorms.
“A band of rain is forecast to move eastwards across the UK over the weekend, bringing fresher conditions along with a mix of showers and brighter spells.
“Temperatures will return closer to seasonal average values, feeling less hot for many.”
In recent days, a number of deaths resulting from water-related incidents have been reported in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cornwall, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Cheshire, Pembrokeshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire.
Declan Sawyer, 15, died after getting into trouble at Swanholme Lakes, Lincoln, on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, a 72-year-old woman died after being pulled from the water at West Angle Bay beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at around 3.15pm.
A 13-year-old boy, understood to be Reco Puttock, died after getting into difficulty at Leadbeater Dam, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Monday, while the body of a teenage girl was recovered from the water at Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire.
On the same day, a man in his 60s died of cardiac arrest after entering the sea at Tregirls Beach, Padstow, to help two family members who were in difficulty, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
The body of a teenager was recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, South Yorkshire Police said.
Another body has been found in the search for a teenage boy who went missing after he was last seen swimming at Hawley Lake on the Hampshire/Surrey border on Tuesday afternoon.
A 12-year-old boy who died after getting into trouble in the River Ribble at Ribchester, Lancashire, on Tuesday was named as Junior Slater from Clayton-le-Woods.
On Wednesday, Cheshire Police said the body of a 17-year-old boy had been found after he went missing in Pickmere Lake at Marston, Northwich.
At around 3pm on the same day, Kent Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to reports of concern for a person in water near Galley Hill Road in Swanscombe, Dartford.
The teenager’s body was recovered at the scene and his death is not being treated as suspicious.
Data published by the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) on Wednesday showed 202 accidental water-related fatalities occurred last year.
The majority (57%) occurred at inland bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, quarries and lochs.
A spokesperson for the NWSF said that while it is too early to say whether the number of water-related deaths during this heatwave is “unusual”, hot weather often correlates with a rise in accidental drownings.
Last year, the majority of incidents took place in August, the data showed.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 87 deaths in England and Wales were recorded as resulting from drowning and submersion in natural water in 2022, with 96 in 2023 and 73 in 2024.
