A teenager who drowned after going swimming in a river with friends has been named by police as Tony James Ballard.

The 17-year-old, from Jasmine Close, Worcester, died on Monday after getting into difficulty in the River Severn.

Police, fire and ambulance crews were called to the banks of the river just before 3.30pm and a search lasting more than two hours ensued.

Firefighters took craft out onto the water and the air ambulance hovered overhead, searching the river with a thermal imaging camera.

The student was pulled from the water shortly before 6pm. He was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8.45pm, police said.

"This appears to be a tragic accident in which one teenager sadly lost his life," Detective Sergeant Paul Freeman said.

"The boy's friends are thought to have tried their hardest to rescue him from the water but unfortunately they were unable to save him."

Chief Inspector Jerry Reakes-Williams, head of local policing in South Worcestershire, said: "Following this tragedy we would remind everyone that they should never try to cool off in unsupervised water.

"The water is inevitably much colder than the ambient temperature - and the current usually stronger than anticipated. Even good swimmers can soon get into difficulties in these conditions.

"We hope that during the projected heatwave over the next few days - and perhaps weeks - everyone will heed this warning and resist entering rivers, streams, canals, ponds, lakes and quarry-water."

The coroner for Worcestershire, Geraint Williams, has been informed and a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted on Wednesday.

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