Mum of drowned boy's warning after girls rescued from frozen river

The mother of a boy who drowned trying to save two friends has warned people of the dangers of open water after two girls were rescued from a river.

Owen Jenkins, 12, was swept away after lifting a girl out of Beeston Weir on 10 July 2017.

Nicola Jenkins has spoken out after hearing of the rescue of two girls, 11, from a frozen section of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire on Saturday.

It happened a few hundred metres away from where Owen died.

Nottinghamshire Police said one of the girls had fallen through the ice into the water, while her friend had become stranded on an island surrounded by frozen water.

A passer-by raised the alarm and they were brought to safety at about 16:45 GMT by emergency services using an inflatable piece of equipment called a pathway.

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The girls were "extremely lucky to be unharmed", police said

Mrs Jenkins said: "When I heard what had happened to these girls, my heart dropped. It took me straight back to what happened with Owen."

She added: "These open water areas do not have thick enough ice to withstand your weight, especially as the water gets deeper. You are likely to fall through the ice into freezing water, become stranded and suffer cold water shock rapidly.

"That's where your body goes into an automatic shock response so your heart beats faster and you start gasping for air."

Nicola Jenkins founded the Open Water Education Network (OWEN) water safety programme in Owen's memory

Mrs Jenkins is urging parents to speak to their children about the dangers of open water and frozen open water.

"I was so pleased that this incident had a happy outcome. The girls were very lucky that someone spotted them," she added.