An athlete has tragically died while swimming in a triathlon in Swansea despite members of the public and emergency service desperately trying to save them.
WalesOnline has reported that South Wales Police, Wales Ambulance Service, St John's Ambulance, the swim safety team, rapid response team, volunteers and members of the public all attempted to help at the scene but the athlete passed away during the swim section of the race.
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) Swansea Triathlon is one of the leading one-day sprint-distance triathlons in Wales.
A statement from Activity Events Wales read: "It is with heavy hearts that we confirm the passing of an athlete during the swim section of today's Triathlon. Our most sincere condolences go out to the family.
"We would like to thank the incredible efforts of the swim safety team, St John's, Ambulance, the rapid response team, the police, volunteers and members of the public involved at the scene."
A spokeswoman for UWTSD said: "The university is sad to hear the news that an individual has passed away during the Swansea Triathlon today. As sponsors of the event, we send our deepest condolences to the family and those affected by this tragedy."
Many have expressed their condolences to those who are close to the athlete on social media, including Martyn Norris, who wrote:
"This is awful news. Condolences to all the family of the athlete concerned, and thoughts with all the support crew who no doubt gave their all to help."
Darren Black wrote: "I'm saddened to hear this terrible news thoughts are with family and friends of the athlete", and Mary-Jayne Granville wrote: "So sad sending my condolences to the family and their friends at this difficult time."
Around 1,500 people were expected to take part in Sunday's event, which included a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5k run. It got underway at 8am and the last athlete was expected to complete the event at 11am.
A similar tragedy took place back in June 2019, when Wil Sern Ong, 21, collapsed metres from the finish line in the Swansea Half Marathon and later died in hospital. Mr Ong was from Malaysia and studying environmental engineering at the city's university.
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