British woman dies in charity Channel swim

British woman dies in charity Channel swim

A British woman has died trying to swim across the English Channel for charity

susan taylor.jpg
A British woman has died trying to swim across the English Channel for charity

Susan Taylor got into “serious difficulties” in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world as she approached France on Sunday.The 34-year-old accountant from Barwell, Leics., undertook the challenge to raise money for Diabetes UK and Rainbows, an East Midlands children’s hospice.


She had previously completed several other open water challenges, swimming the length of Lake Coniston in the Lake District, swimming at the Olympic rowing venue and completing a relay swim across the English channel in the past year alone.


She predicted that her English Channel solo swim would be “tougher than Everest”, however.


After covering herself in goose fat in preparation for the ordeal, she set off at about 1am but became ill just a mile off the French coast.
French rescue workers were called out to her support boat soon after 5pm.


Her support team had requested a defibrillator by radio, and a French Navy helicopter was used to take her to hospital in Boulogne, where she was declared dead at around 7pm.


As friends and well wishers waited in vain for news of how the swim had gone, they posted increasingly anxious messages on the Facebook page about the challenge that Ms Taylor had set up.


Those following the tracker she had on her were the first to realise something was up.


Steve Tempest wrote at around 5pm: “The track has had a blip I hope.”


Shortly afterwards, when Ms Taylor had been pulled from the water, he added: “Now I am concerned. Two points showing travel as fast as a boat....Oh Susan I do hope everything is ok.”


Another friend, Sue King, wrote an hour later: “Getting very nervous now, hope Susan is OK.”


Clare Biddle wrote last night: "Hope all is ok?? Tracker has stopped!!"


Ms Taylor attempted the swim on what was an extremely hot day, with a water temperature of 15C.


A police source in Boulogne-sur-Mer said: “She was swimming from Britain, and was well supported.”


A friend of Ms Taylor, who asked not to be named, said: "We are devastated by Susan’s death. She was a wonderful person who was determined to swim the Channel so as to help others."


A Foreign Office spokesman added: “We are aware of the death of a British national in Boulogne on July 14, 2013.


“We are in touch with the family and are offering consular assistance.”


British officials had authorised a number of charity swimmers to cross the Channel yesterday.


France does not allow such swims to start from its own side of the water because of the hazards posed by shipping, as well as dangerous currents and changing weather conditions.


Ms Taylor's death brings to eight the number of people who have died trying to swim the Channel since Captain Matthew Webb made the first unassisted swim across the Strait of Dover in 1875.


The most recent death until yesterday had been that of Paraic Casey, a 45-year-old member of the Sandycove Swimming Club in Cork, Ireland, on July 21 last year.


He became ill less than a mile from the French coast and all attempts to resuscitate him failed.


-Telegraph

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