A trip to the seaside ended in tragedy for a 16-year-old boy from the Brussels municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. The teenager encountered difficulties when he went for a swim in the sea on Saturday evening. A search and rescue operation was mounted, but the boy was not found. The teenager’s body washed up a couple of kilometres further up the coast in Bredene.
On Saturday evening passers-by heard cries for help coming from someone that was in trouble in the sea. Police Commissioner Denis Goes told journalist that the passers-by jumped into the sea to go and offer assistance. However, the strong currents meant that they were soon forced to retreat. The police were called straight away and a search and rescue operation was mounted using rescue boats and a helicopter. However, the boy was not found.
Commissioner Goes told journalists that “We stopped searching at around 10:15pm. By then it was already very dark so there wasn’t much use in continuing. On Sunday morning the 16-year-old’s body washed up two kilometres away. The circumstances are being investigated”.
The boy was able to be identified thanks to the mobile phone that was found in his rucksack. He is from Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (Brussels).
“The sea is not a swimming pool”
Commissioner Goes says that the teenager’s death shows all too vividly that the sea can be a dangerous place. “The sea is not a swimming pool. The two are not comparable. The waves can really put people’s lives in danger”.
"It is in fact forbidden to swim in the sea if there are no lifeguards. During the day there was a yellow flag flying and this meant that swimming was allowed, but it remains dangerous. The lifeguards were there until 6:30pm. You are taking a big risk if you go swimming nevertheless when there are no lifeguards”.