A man whose brother drowned in a canal on a night out has issued an urgent warning to all over the summer months, saying: "You just wish people wouldn't do it - don't go for a swim. But they don't seem to listen."
Tony Dodd said it's not just teenagers who need to be warned about the dangers of open water, recalling his younger brother Wayne's death at the age of 43. He spoke out after a spate of recent water tragedies, including the death last month of 15-year-old Abbie Walton in the River Etherow in Broadbottom, Tameside.
Tony's brother Wayne, of Mansfield Road, Hyde, was walking home along the Ashton Canal on August 26, 2011, after drinking at a pub when it's believed he tripped and fell in. His body was found the following morning by a passing barge.
Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.
It was a regular route for him - he'd been walking along the towpath since he was around 10 - and he also swam in the canal during hot weather, reports the Mirror.
Tony said the tragedy still devastates his family 12 years on - and he is reminded of his brother's passing every summer when he sees similar water deaths in the news, often involving youths. At least 15 people - mostly teens - have died in open water this summer already.
Tony, 61, who works as a security steward at AO Arena in Manchester, lives in Hattersley, not far from Broadbottom where Abbie drowned. He said: "You try to get used to it, but when you read something like what happened to that girl [Abbie Walton], it brings it all back."
Referring more generally to open water accidents, he said: "I'm always commenting on Facebook saying 'don’t go near open water'. Especially if alcohol's involved. It doesn't matter what age you are.
"Just because it’s hot, you don’t know what it can do to your body, you can get into real trouble. Whether you mean to go in or not. You just wish people wouldn’t do it, don’t go for a swim. But they don’t seem to listen."
Tony said he remembers friends diving off piers when he was a teenager but he never did because he can't swim. And years later a friend's son died after getting cold water shock while swimming in a reservoir, aged 16.
He went on to say: "We'll never know exactly what happened to Wayne. The coroner put it down as an accident and they said they think he might have tripped. We don't even know exactly when it was.
"Sometimes in the summer he would swim in the canal. He’d have his jeans on and take his T-shirt off. He did that a few times. I didn’t because I can’t swim."
The night of his death was unseasonably cold, Tony recalled, and said Wayne had on two coats and a backpack. He was spotted on an Asda CCTV camera around 8pm and was found in the water off Hadfield Street. "He may have gone into shock. When your clothes get wet they can drag you under as well," Tony said.
Wayne had been reported missing and police then knocked on his brother's door around 6pm to tell him the news. "It’s not like when someone dies of an illness, when someone just dies suddenly it’s a big shock," he said. "You don’t expect it to happen, it’s out of the blue. You never get over it either."
An 18-year-old man also tragically died after being pulled from the River Ouse near Cardington Lock, Bedfordshire, on June 16.
Prior to that, 15-year-old Erin Madden died on June 1 after getting into trouble in Carr Mill Dam in St Helen's, Merseyside, with a friend.
In 2021, 277 people died after drowning in the UK, compared to 254 in 2020 and 233 in 2019, according to the the National Water Safety Forum.
