A 14-year-old British boy has drowned after falling off a boat in Amsterdam.
The teenager was sailing with friends on the Buiten-IJ on Sunday afternoon when he fell in the water.
Rescuers, including three fire brigade diving teams and a helicopter, took just under an hour to locate him after he was reported missing at 3.30pm.
He was taken to hospital but sadly could not be saved.
The IJ is Amsterdam’s waterfront just north of the city.
The identity of the boy remains unclear at this stage.
According to the Amsterdam Public Health Service, around 200 people drowns every year in the Netherlands.
Some 20 of these cases happen in Amsterdam.
In 2021 a British clubber drowned after jumping off a party boat in the city.
One passerby tried to save him but could not pull him to dry land.
In 2017 a 21-year-old British tourist drowned after falling into an Amsterdam canal while urinating.
Neil Stewart, 30, from Newcastle, died in the North Sea Canal in what appeared to be a ‘silly prank’.
The father-of-two’s fiancée Chelsea Dixon had surprised him by arranging the weekend away, which involved flights, a hotel and a Saturday night at the BTID – Bounce Til I Die – dance event on a boat.
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