24 July 2013
Last updated at 03:27 ET
Two teenage girls, whose bodies were found by police divers in the River Wear in Tyne and Wear, have been named.
Passers-by tried to rescue the pair who were discovered on Tuesday evening after getting into difficulty near a viaduct in Fatfield, Washington.
They were named locally as Chloe Fowler and Toni-Beth Purvis.
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said inquiries would now be carried out into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Onlookers said they believed the girls jumped into the river for “fun” and to “keep cool” but this has not been confirmed by police.
Northumbria Police said the river was still tidal at the point where the girls went missing just before 15:00 BST and there was a lot of debris and foliage in the water.
Supt Alan Veitch said: “One was an off-duty police officer going for a run who dived in and saved a boy who was trying to save one of the missing girls.
“Another gentleman dived in and swam the width of the river to get to one of the girls but he came up empty-handed. He was distraught, as you can imagine.”
About 100 emergency services staff were involved in the search, which took about six hours.
BBC News – Home
Girls named in river bodies find
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