Woman dies after 'suffering medical emergency' in the sea at popular beach - as onlookers tried to save her

By JAKE HOLDEN, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 09:11, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 09:19, 23 June 2026 A woman in her 60s has died after she 'suffered a medical emergency' while paddling in the sea with a child as bystanders tried to save her life during the heatwave. Police rushed to the scene on Southbourne beach, Dorset, after members of the public had pulled the woman out of the water and raised the alarm at 2.21pm. Eyewitnesses watched as paramedics tried to save her life and performed CPR on the sand while other emergency services gathered on the promenade. The concourse was closed by police while medics applied first aid under the sweltering 30°C sun on the beach near Boscombe, Bournemouth. A spokesperson for Dorset police said: 'At 2.21pm on Monday 22 June 2026, Dorset Police were called to assist with a medical emergency at Southbourne promenade to clear an area to enable emergency services to attend safely. 'Sadly, a short time later a woman was pronounced dead at the scene.' They continued: 'Her next of kin is aware and the coroner has been notified. 'The death is not being treated as suspicious.' A mother has died after she suffered a medical emergency while paddling in the sea with her son, witnesses said Bystanders pulled her out of the sea and called emergency services. Paramedics from an air ambulance were 'doing CPR for ages and ages', but couldn't save her, a beach hut owner said A beach hut owner alerted emergency services after he saw the woman struggling in the water with her son. He said that she was recovered from the crashing waves on the beach with the help of onlookers who were trying to save her life. Another beach hut owner said she 'heard all the commotion' as emergency services arrived. She told the Bournemouth Echo: 'They were doing CPR for ages and ages, for an awfully long time.' A Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance attended and took off from the beach at 4.30pm - more than two hours after the police were first called. A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: 'We were called at 14:17 hrs on Monday 22 June to an incident near Boscombe. 'We sent two double-crewed land ambulances, an air ambulance, a rapid response vehicle and an operations officer to the scene.' It comes as the Met Office issued a very rare Red Extreme Heat Warning for Wednesday and Thursday - the second ever. The first was in place when the UK's heat record was set at 40.3°C in July 2022. June's all-time heat record could be broken during this heatwave and see thousands of Brits flock to bodies of water like the sea, lakes and rivers to escape the heat. This happened in the last heatwave in the UK this year in May and saw at least 15 people die in tragic water-related deaths. Many of them were just teenagers; one was as young as 12, but all ages appeared to be at risk, as a 68-year-old man also lost his life in the water. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.