Overview
- Bystanders pulled a man from the sea near Durley Chine Beach and worked to help him after witnesses say the incident began at around 3.40pm on Sunday.
- Around eight people, including an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer and a trained nurse, performed CPR while a bystander fetched a wall-mounted defibrillator from a nearby venue.
- Coastguard teams, police officers, paramedics and a rescue helicopter responded to the scene with about ten emergency vehicles arriving on the promenade.
- Dorset Police said the man, initially reported as in his late 50s or early 60s then described in one report as in his 70s, was pronounced dead at the scene and his family has been informed with the death not being treated as suspicious.
- Witnesses described visible shock among beachgoers and local reporting has used the case to stress water-safety messages, including that cold sea temperatures can pose hidden risks even on warm days.